


The Newspaper

by A_mimir



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: A weird love triangle, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Hyerim, My First Work in This Fandom, Slow Burn, There might be some light angst, hyewon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:14:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 41,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23425333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_mimir/pseuds/A_mimir
Summary: When Hyejoo transfers to Yerim’s school, Yerim is dead set on helping Hyejoo make friends. With a shove in the right direction. Hyejoo soon becomes a part of a scheme to help Yerim and quiet fangirl Chaewon become closer.What happens when Hyejoo quickly begins to realize she may just have feelings for one of the girls..ORHyejoo is an insecure baby gay. Yerim is a celebrity on campus and Chaewon has a big crush on her.
Relationships: Choi Yerim | Choerry/Son Hyejoo | Olivia Hye, Kim Jiwoo | Chuu/Kim Jungeun | Kim Lip, Park Chaewon | Go Won/Son Hyejoo | Olivia Hye
Comments: 113
Kudos: 203





	1. Paperboy

The frantic rhythmic tapping of short nails on a screen echo through the otherwise empty school hallway.

“Oh come on!” Hyejoo grits out as she’s shot dead in another round of Call of Duty. Her randomized teammates were complete deadweight. The opposing team had quickly overpowered them and kept a stronghold near Hyejoo’s respawn zone. Hyejoo had stepped out of class almost 15 minutes ago for a bathroom break. As soon as she washed her hands a notification popped up on her phone. A new war package was being offered as the special of the day. She had glanced down the hallway and caught a glimpse of the clock. She could afford to just check it out for a minute, she thought. 

Hyejoo couldn’t help the way she became so easily distracted with her game. School was extremely dull and she was starting to seriously wish she could just drop out. Of course she would never, her mom would kill her or worse. She’d probably be shipped off to boot camp or something, the thought made a shiver run down her spine. 

“One last game,” Hyejoo whispered to herself as she slid down to the floor right outside of the girls restroom. She eagerly waited for another group of random players to join her company. Her furious tapping started up again as her mouth dropped open with concentration. With Hyejoo’s focus solely on the screen in front of her, she didn’t even notice the quiet footsteps that creeped up on her. Instead, the sudden smell of cherries invaded Hyejoo’s nose causing the girl to subtly tense in anticipation. 

“Gotcha!” Yerim, Hyejoo's only friend in the whole school, yelled out. Her bright smile faded away as she noticed Hyejoo hadn’t even flinched. Yerim pouted and dropped down to sit side by side with Hyejoo. She couldn’t believe her luck to have run into her friend outside of the restroom. 

“Don’t ignore me!” Yerim whined tugging on Hyejoo’s sleeve. It shook Hyejoo’s focus and she was shot dead again. 

Hyejoo let out a sigh as she finally put her phone down to look over at the other girl. She figured it wouldn’t have made a difference, her team was losing again, badly. Were babies the only ones playing at this hour? she thought as she unconsciously knitted her brows and glared at Yerim. 

Yerim let out a giggle as she reached forward and pushed her index finger against Hyejoo’s brows. It caused the deep lines to begin to relax.

“You’ll get wrinkles making faces like that you know,” Yerim spoke softly. The smile on her face reached her eyes and she looked at Hyejoo with adoration. Even though Hyejoo seemed intimidating to the rest of their sophomore class she knew the truth. Hyejoo was all bark and no bite. 

“I’m playing with a bunch of losers, they keep dying. How am I supposed to win a match when I’m the only one racking in kills?” Hyejoo seriously questioned, knowing full well that Yerim couldn’t give her an answer. Yerim sucked just as badly as her garbage teammates. 

Yerim shrugged in response as she turned to the bulletin board across from them. It was full of flyers advertising events and student clubs. The spring semester had just begun and Yerim was eager for all the fun activities that awaited them.

“You should join a club!” Yerim said jumping up to get a closer look at the board. She didn’t really need to look the flyers over. Yerim knew about all the clubs in the school.

Yerim was secretly worried for Hyejoo. She had recently transferred in and was finding it hard to make friends. It didn’t help that Hyejoo towered over most of the girls and never seemed to smile. She was just extremely shy and even a bit awkward when first meeting someone. 

“I don’t wanna”, Hyejoo whined out, what was the point of making friends if she might not even stick around long enough to memorize their names. The students in her class seemed to keep their distance from her. She didn’t mind though, she was fine being a loner. 

Yerim spun around, pointing a finger accusingly at Hyejoo. Her cheeks had puffed out in that cute manner that reminded Hyejoo of 7 year old Yerim. The same little girl that had reached out to her when she fell down and scraped her knees. Yerim lived in the same apartment complex and she had helped take Hyejoo back home. The way her hand felt so empty without Yerim’s sticky one after her mom took her in to clean her wound was something she couldn’t forget. No matter how much she tried growing up. 

“I shouldn’t be your only friend! You’re amazing and other people should see that too, you know? The world shouldn’t be deprived of the great Hyejoo!” Yerim said, a small frown playing on her lips. 

Hyejoo rolled her eyes at that, Yerim was always saying dramatic things. It was sorta embarrassing she thought as a small blush broke out across her cheeks. Hyejoo definitely didn’t feel like she was the great person Yerim seemed to think she was. Hyejoo was bratty and selfish, she was always surprised when Yerim still wanted to hang out with her.

“I already have you. What do I need more friends for?” Hyejoo grunted out, slowly standing and patting at her butt. Her skirt was probably so wrinkly now, maybe she shouldn't have sat down for that long on the floor. Hyejoo briefly considered skipping the rest of the day before Yerim broke her train of thought. 

Yerim tightly shut her eyes and stomped her foot down twice. Hyejoo scoffed at the tantrum she was throwing so early in the morning. She had always been curious about what it would be like to have Yerim’s sickeningly positive energy.

It was probably exhausting. 

“Hyejoo! I’m in several clubs you know? What if I’m not around. You’ll end up being by yourself and I don’t want that,” Yerim said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Plus, what if you start skipping a lot again? If you drop out, your mom might send you far away. I won’t ever see you!”

“That won’t happen, I’ll be fine,” Hyejoo said, swatting the ridiculous idea away with disinterest. Hyejoo had quickly become aware of the fact that her best friend seemed to be a celebrity on campus. She had always thought that it was an exaggeration Yerim’s father liked to say until she saw it with her own eyes. 

Yerim was constantly surrounded by boys and girls fighting for her attention. People would even wait outside of her classroom to catch a glimpse of her. After the first week Hyejoo stopped going to her classroom to get her for lunch. It was so intimidating having so many eyes on her. Some overzealous fangirls had even left threatening notes in her locker about it.

“If you don’t join a club...I won’t talk to you for a week!” Yerim warned, glaring in the most childish way imaginable. It pulled a smirk out of Hyejoo, Yerim was so cute sometimes. 

“Oh no!”, Hyejoo faked a gasp as she quickly rolled her eyes and shoulder checked Yerim out of the way to look at the board. She really could be bitchy sometimes, she thought, chuckling at Yerim’s “oof.”

Yerim pouted as she rubbed her shoulder but a smile quickly replaced it. Hyejoo was studying the board seriously. It wasn’t the first time she had mentioned clubs to Hyejoo. She had even offered to help her get into the clubs Yerim was a member of. The Student Council was her first choice. Hyejoo had simply scoffed at her suggestion before continuing her gaming, the topic dropped and never revisited. 

Chemistry club? Lame. Anime club? Yeah right. Hyejoo would rather be strung up by her toes than be caught in that club. People didn’t need to know that she was a major nerd. Her manga collection was for her eyes only.

Hyejoo’s finger came up to her chin and tapped it lightly. Everything was so lame. Maybe she could weasel her way out of joining a club. If she pretended to be interested in something, surely Yerim would lay off. Hyejoo just needed to wait Yerim out. As soon as her club activities began she would forget all about this.

“What about this Hyejoo?” Yerim asked, pulling a flyer off the board. The school newspaper? Hyejoo licked her lips in thought as she pulled the flyer from Yerim’s weak grip. It was formatted like an article with the club members photographed holding the school paper up happily. This was at least something that would look good on her resume she thought. However, she wasn’t the biggest fan of writing. She was definitely not going to join this club, but she knew she’d have to humor Yerim. With a sluggish nod Hyejoo folded the paper and stuck it in her coat's breast pocket. If she was lucky she would remember to take it out before putting it in the wash. 

“Whoa! Are you actually going to join it?” Yerim squealed jumping up and down while tugging on Hyejoo’s arm. A smirk broke across Hyejoo’s lips and she simply shrugged.

No, absolutely not, Hyejoo thought, allowing herself to be wiggled around. Yerim didn’t need to know that though. Not right away at least, plus her smile was admittedly something she adored seeing. Especially when it was caused by something Hyejoo did. 

The sound of a classroom door harshly opening snapped them out of their bubble.

“Girls! Shouldn’t you be in class?” A teacher's voice bellowed at them from down the hallway. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yerim had skipped happily out of her classroom after being invited by several classmates to eat lunch with them. She only wanted to eat with one person, and that was Hyejoo.

“Let’s go eat, boss baby!” Yerim cheered, as she swung the door to Hyejoo's classroom open and beamed brightly in. They were luckily on the same floor just about 5 classrooms away. 

Hyejoo was in the middle of kneeling on the ground with her arms up in punishment. Her homeroom teacher chewed her out for being gone for 30 minutes as soon as class ended. Every second that passed was hell.

The rest of the students that had stayed behind or were slow in leaving stared at Yerim. A few of them even let out chuckles as Yerim quickly blushed at her interruption. Hyejoo’s teacher cleared his throat before scratching at his neck. 

“Well I hope you’ve learned your lesson Ms. Son. Please make sure that you don’t do this again. Ms. Choi, I hope your excellent student manners are able to rub off on Ms. Son,” Hyejoo’s teacher said, gesturing for her to stand. How typical, Hyejoo thought. Of course, even the teachers loved Yerim and seemed to treat her differently. 

Hyejoo winced as she slowly stood up, damn that really hurt. She rubbed at her red knees before walking to the back of the class. Finally at her desk she quickly shoved her notebook into her backpack. She hadn’t jotted down any notes, scribbles of watermelons peppered her sheets. Her face was hot from the embarrassment she was feeling. She really hated being stared at by people. She heard the last of her classmates chuckles as she darted out of the room. 

After saying her goodbye to Hyejoo’s teacher Yerim almost sprinted to catch up to the taller girl. They were heading for the cafeteria to pick up their lunches. If there was one thing Yerim hated it was tense silence. Unsurprising, Hyejoo was practically oozing negative vibes. 

“Ahhhhh I can't take it anymore!” Yerim whined as she attacked Hyejoo's back. She pounded her tiny fists against Hyejoo before wrapping her arms around the taller girl. She knew hyejoo was mad about the nickname she had called her. It was something she thought of after watching the movie of the same title. Yerim remembered how she had almost passed out from laughter. Teasing Hyejoo was the funniest thing, how was she supposed to know that there were still people in the class?

“Stop being so mad!!” Yerim talked into Hyejoo’s coat. Yerim’s voice vibrated through Hyejoo and a sudden blush broke out over her face again. This was really getting out of hand. 

“Stop being so dramatic”, Hyejoo huffed out, pushing forward easily. Yerim was lighter than the last time she had dragged her around. After they both hit puberty Hyejoo began to shy away from excessive physical touch. Even though they still lived in the same apartment complex they had somewhat drifted apart. A lot of it was simply Hyejoo’s shyness and newfound sexual realization. But Yerim had started getting really busy with school activities. They were close, just not as physically close anymore, a thought that saddened Hyejoo. 

“I’m not mad. So let go”, Hyejoo growled out, completely failing to convince Yerim. Even though everyone had seen Yerim beat Hyejoo like a drum, the taller girl still seemed like she was the one doing the beating. 

“You are mad. I’m literally holding you! I can feel how tense you are, you know?” Yerim rambled out squeezing tighter like her life depended on it. At this point it really did seem to. Yerim hadn’t thought that ahead of her actions. Hyejoo would definitely get her back. 

Hyejoo let out another growl from deep down as she suddenly leaned forward. Yerim was brought off the floor with a squeal before Hyejoo straightened her back and extended her arms out. Yerim’s hold was quickly broken and she stumbled back. Hyejoo had always been a strong kid, but her power had really matured. It made Yerim wonder briefly if Hyejoo was still taking those boxing classes. 

Hyejoo whipped around with a glare that burned holes in Yerim. Yerim let out a pathetic squeak and she shrank under the taller girl's fiery eyes. It looked like a scene out of an animal planet show. Hyejoo was the big bad wolf and Yerim was a small and defenseless bunny. 

The sudden flash of a camera broke their intense staring match and they both turned to look at who had interrupted them. A bubbly girl with big eyes and a large grin plastered on her face waved at them. A black newsboy hat adorned her head and she was wearing an oversized grey hoodie. Beside her almost being overshadowed, another smaller girl stood. She watched them with a slight raise of her eyebrow. Blonde long locks covered her dainty shoulders. She looked like a doll, Hyejoo quickly thought. 

“Oh! Please don’t mind me! It’s not every day the campus sweetheart gets beat up. It’d be a hot story for the newspaper,” the bubbly girl beamed at them like what she had just said wasn’t completely unethical. She wiggled her brows at manically before throwing a wink at her blonde friend. The other girl continued to watch silently, her big eyes never leaving Yerim. 

“I-I…I wasn’t going to beat her up!” Hyejoo spat out holding her hands up like someone who just got caught about to beat up another person. The flash went off again at the sudden change in posture. 

Yerim couldn’t help but break out laughing as she doubled over. Her high pitched giggles piercing through the noisy cafeteria on the other side of the doors. 

Hyejoo opened and closed her mouth a couple of times while looking between both girls. What in the world was happening? The amount of people Yerim seemed to know really gave her whiplash. 

“Wow! You seriously saved my life Jiwoo!” Yerim said, finally regaining her composure and wiping at the tears that had formed. 

Jiwoo skipped over and hugged Yerim in a tight embrace. “I thought you were dead meat!” She whispered while throwing glances at Hyejoo. Jiwoo had never seen the girl before, and she was pretty good at remembering faces. Jiwoo’s friend had awkwardly stayed behind. Her eyes finally moved to look at Hyejoo. 

“You shouldn’t pick fights with seniors Yerim. One of these days you could actually get hurt,” Jiwoo cooed out like she was speaking to a baby. “You know how some people are totally jealous of how much of a cutie you are!” 

“I’m not a senior. I’m Yerim’s age” Hyejoo interjected, still feeling confused at the interaction before her. Who was this weirdo? And why did she think she could just come and interrupt her conversation with Yerim. Hyejoo turned to lock eyes with the blonde, her stare was beginning to burn holes in her face. This girl was definitely the weirdest, Hyejoo thought, frowning at her. 

“Wow! Really!? But you’re so big! And totally intimidating” Jiwoo chirped happily as she let go of Yerim to examine Hyejoo. Even though the girl's voice was sweet she was pretty sure she just got insulted. It caused Hyejoo’s frown to quickly morph into a scowl. The blonde looked away after being intimidated, her eyes landing back on Yerim.

“We’re friends! Best friends!!” Yerim chirped back at Jiwoo as she grabbed a hold of Hyejoo again. Yerim could sense Hyejoo’s anger bubbling.

Hyejoo looked between the girls, it was like they were on the same wavelength of ridiculously high energy. They looked like they were communicating with each other by beaming their toothy smiles. Morse code, she thought for a second as she was jiggled around. The movement was able to rattle away her anger. 

“Oh! Where are my manners!? My name is Kim Jiwoo. I’m a junior, and I’m in the school’s newspaper club. it’s a pleasure to meet any friend of Yerim’s!” Jiwoo said, rocking back and forth on the balls of her heels with excitement. Her eyes were piercing like she was searching for a story to tell. It made Hyejoo swallow down a sudden urge to turn and run away. She was intense but in a totally different way from Yerim. “Yerim and I are friends too! You wouldn’t imagine, I have a whole folder dedicated to her in the club room.” Hyejoo frowned at that, what was that supposed to mean?

Jiwoo whirled around to point at the timid blonde that still stood a couple feet back. 

“That’s Park Chaewon! She’s also in the club! Say hi Chae,” Jiwoo almost ordered. The girl in question faintly blushed, her porcelain cheeks tinting pink. She simply waved as a response. Hyejoo noticed It was mostly directed at Yerim.

A small jab to her rib pulled her from her thoughts. 

“Son Hyejoo, sophomore, it’s nice to meet yo-“ Hyejoo started, her automatic greeting she gave the class whenever she started at a new school. 

Yerim interrupted with a clap of her hands, “actually Jiwoo, Hyejoo is interested in joining the newspaper club! She even has the flyer in her breast pocket!” Yerim giggled while sliding her hand dangerously close to Hyejoo’s chest. Hyejoo recoiled at the touch and quickly swatted at Yerim’s hand. 

“Don’t touch!” Hyejoo barked out, her face was on fire now. Her eyes scanned their surroundings, it seemed everyone was watching them. She briefly caught Chaewon’s stare. It was darker than before, Hyejoo sucked in a deep breath. 

If it was even physically possible, Jiwoo’s smile seemed to get larger. 

“Oh my gosh! really!? That’s amazing! We desperately need new members Yerim! I was telling Jungeun that maybe our flyers weren’t working but obviously that’s totally wrong. It got your attention, so this is great! We’re having a meeting tomorrow! Please stop by!” Jiwoo breathed out all in one high pitched go. Her warm hands were suddenly clasping Hyejoo’s clammy ones. 

Hyejoo’s body tensed at the contact. Something about Jiwoo’s eyes creeped her out, it was almost like she could see her. The real Hyejoo that was shy and very very confused. 

“Come on Chae! Don’t just make me say it! Tell her too!” Jiwoo cheerfully ordered, looking back at the blonde. 

Chaewon turned her attention to Hyejoo, she had been caught staring at Yerim again. Her blush deepened as she tucked some stray hair behind her ear.

“Please..think about stopping by our meeting tomorrow,” Chaewon politely said. It made Hyejoo gulp back a sudden pool of saliva. 

“I-i...uh, yeah of course”, Hyejoo awkwardly responded. She was weak for pretty girls. Even weird ones that clearly had a staring problem.

Jiwoo pumped her fist in the air before letting out another squeal and wrapping both girls in a hug. “You totally won’t regret it! We’re like really cool!” Jiwoo gloated jumping in place. 

Hyejoo already regretted it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hyejoo dropped down onto her bed allowing the mattress to mold around her curves. The day had been a stressful one. Jiwoo and Chaewon luckily hadn’t eaten lunch with them. Jiwoo had told them that some girl named Jungeun was waiting for them in the club room. But before leaving she made sure to remind Hyejoo of the club meeting the next day. Jiwoo had even gone as far as to write her phone number down on the flyer Hyejoo kept. Annoyingly, Yerim promised to personally drop Hyejoo off in the right club room for Jiwoo. 

Hyejoo reached for the flyer on her bedside dresser and unfolded it. She scanned it again, this time paying careful attention to the members in the black and white photo. Jiwoo had made an arrow pointing to her face with a bubble that read,

“Hi! it’s me! Jiwoo! Please come to our meeting! Call me <3”

in messy writing. Yerim had laughed hard at that after seeing the horrified look Hyejoo made. 

Girls like Yerim and especially Jiwoo were scary. They were so bright, blindingly so. Hyejoo scowled, placing her thumb over Jiwoo’s face. She decided to scan the other active club members. Yerim had spent the remaining lunch period trying to persuade Hyejoo. Unsurprisingly Yerim knew each and every active member's name.

Her eyes finally landed on Chaewon by Jiwoo’s left side. Yerim had cutely gushed about how tiny Chaewon was. She had also made a point to explain Chaewon’s extreme shyness around her. No matter how hard Yerim tried to get closer it was no use. Yerim’s pout was clear in Hyejoo’s mind at that thought.

The idea of it all made Hyejoo roll her eyes, the kids in her new school were really something else. She huffed and crumpled the paper up before launching it towards the trash can. She wouldn’t be bullied into joining a stupid club.


	2. The Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A stressful morning gives way to confusing thoughts. Hyejoo just wants to go home, but promises are made to be kept.

By the fourth snooze of Hyejoo’s morning alarm she had accepted her destiny. Honestly, if she wasn’t too lazy to pat herself on the back she would’ve. She had been able to hold off on skipping until the second week of school. It was a new record and the prize was sleeping until the afternoon, right before her mom came home for lunch. 

With a deep sigh she snuggled further into her fluffy pink pillow. Her eyes had only been closed for a minute when her door creeped open. Soft pitter patter of feet against wooden floors alerted her to an intruder. The dip in her bed was what made her snap her eyes open. She had initially thought Gureumi, her dog, had made his way into her room. However, he wasn’t heavy enough to make even a slight dent on her bed. 

With blurry eyes she turned her head, fully expecting to be murdered. Her mom had always been a bit forgetful, sometimes leaving the front door unlocked. Instead, she was face to face with a smiling Yerim in her school uniform. 

“Jesus!” Hyejoo screamed, bringing the comforter over her head in fright. 

Yerim let out a high pitched giggle as she leaned forward to hug Hyejoo’s squirming body. 

This was the first time in a couple of years that Yerim had stepped foot in Hyejoo’s room. When Hyejoo’s parents divorced while they were in middle school, she stopped being invited over. Hyejoo hated being home where everything reminded her of her absent father. She figured it was the same for Hyejoo’s mother, who seemed to take up longer shifts at work. 

“Why are you in my room!?” Hyejoo squeaked hyper aware of her bedhead and morning breath. For a split second she considered that she might be dreaming. It wouldn’t be the first time she had ever dreamt of Yerim in her bedroom. She winced at the tight squeeze around her heart at the thought. 

“Your mom let me in! You’re really starting to look like her, you know? Anyways! When I didn’t see you by the bus stop I thought you’d probably still be home,” Yerim chirped, pulling at the comforter. “It’s a good thing I came, you’re clearly trying to skip.” 

Underneath the sheet, Hyejoo desperately tried to rub at her face. She’d die if Yerim saw any eye boogers or drooling crust on her. 

“Hey! Come on! We’re going to be late,” Yerim whined, finally pulling the comforter out of Hyejoo’s grip. 

Hyejoo looked like she had a bird nest for hair, she licked her dry lips when she made eye contact with Yerim. Why was she so nervous? Yerim’s eyes slowly traveled down to Hyejoo’s chest before a wicked grin broke across her face. 

“Aw is the widdo baby cold?” Yerim teased resting her hands on Hyejoo’s tense stomach. Yerim was hardly the innocent girl she portrayed herself to be. 

Hyejoo frowned before looking down and realizing her body’s natural reaction to the sudden change in temperature. With a scream she kicked Yerim off the bed, pulling the comforter back over her head. 

Yerim cackled as she rolled on the floor. It was the most fun she had in the morning in a while. With her laughter finally dying down she decided to take a look at the room she was in. It was messy, she concluded when she noticed a burger wrapper under Hyejoo’s bed. Her desk was full of books and papers, which was funny since she knew that Hyejoo never read for class. She also had several empty water bottles on her night stand and there was even a sock resting over the corner of her tv. 

“Get out. I need to change,” Hyejoo ordered, sitting up in her bed with the comforter up to her chest. She was too annoyed to sleep now. 

Yerim pouted in response, she didn’t get why she had to leave. She had seen Hyejoo’s body a million times when they were younger. Plus, they were both girls, it’s not like she didn’t know what was under Hyejoo’s pajamas. 

“But,” Yerim started when Hyejoo silenced her with a stuffed toy to the head. It was a kill shot. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

They had barely made it to the bus stop in time, Hyejoo let out a gasp as she cradled her side. The morning commute to their school was the worst. It was long and sometimes they didn’t even get a chance to sit. Today was one of those days. They were packed in like sardines. She could only be thankful that the heat wasn’t completely unbearable.

A group of students from a neighboring all boys school stood behind them. Hyejoo at several points during the ride felt hot air across her neck. It made her body want to recoil in disgust but she knew there was no point in making a fuss about it. 

She frowned as she felt the body behind her move closer with the jostle of the bus. Her grip on the yellow overhead handlebar tightened. The only reason she rode the bus was because of Yerim. She enjoyed the scenery as opposed to the subways' dark tunnels. The girls were practically opposites. 

When she felt Yerim slide her hand over on the bar to bump her, she glanced out of the corner of her eye to look at the shorter girl. Yerim was frowning, her eyebrows were knitted tightly together in what looked like pain. Hyejoo craned her neck back to see one of the boys directly behind Yerim. His hand grazed the back of her thigh with another jolt of the bus. The touch caused Yerim to tighten her grip and push forward to get away. 

For the second time that morning Hyejoo’s body naturally reacted. Before she could even process what was going on, her hand had let go of the yellow bar. She shoved the boy back with a growl, startling him and his friends. 

“What the fuck!” Hyejoo spit out, glaring at the now nervous teenager. His eyes darted around for his friends to step in and help. The noise had gained the attention of the other riders as they watched the scene unfold. 

Yerim reached out to grab a hold of the end of Hyejoo’s school coat. She glanced between both of them, eyes wide in shock. She knew Hyejoo was hot tempered but she didn’t think it would escalate so quickly. 

“W-what’s your problem you b-bitch!” The boy stuttered out, slowly regaining his footing. He fixed his black tie and ran a shaky hand through bleached hair. 

Hyejoo let out a dry scoff as she raised her finger at the student. 

“I’m going to give you a big fat lip to distract from your idiotic hair,” Hyejoo threatened, taking a step forward in their direction. 

Yerim pulled Hyejoo back just as the alarm signifying the bus was stopping rang. A wave of bodies began to push towards them, all ready to go to school or work. They had been standing right at the exit, it wasn’t Yerim’s favorite spot but she thanked the Heavens this time. Double tapping her card against the fare reader she pulled at Hyejoo’s coat with force

Hyejoo stumbled off the bus step with a grunt, she turned back just in time to see the doors close. The boys stared out at her and visibly relaxed. They quickly broke down in laughter and blew raspberries at her. Hyejoo glared at them in return, flipping them off when the bus pulled away. 

She spun around to see Yerim staring at her with an unreadable expression. It caused Hyejoo’s stomach to burst with butterflies. She bit her lip in worry of her best friend being mad at her. 

“You’re kinda cool,” Yerim instead said, smiling at Hyejoo as she stepped into her personal bubble. She slipped her hand into Hyejoo’s bigger one, their fingers quickly lacing together. Hyejoo let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. 

They walked four blocks more than they would’ve normally because of the group of boys. By the time they got to campus Hyejoo could feel the sticky sweat between their clasped hands. It was sort of gross and her fingers twitched to be released. Yerim’s grip never let up though. Not even when one of her friends came over and asked her about some homework. 

It was driving Hyejoo crazy. 

Reaching Yerim’s classroom, Hyejoo let out a sigh of relief. The grip on her hand loosened and Yerim propped herself against the edge of the doorframe. Hyejoo could’ve sworn she had seen this exact image in one of her romance mangas. 

“Thank you for walking me to my class. I’m sorry about earlier,” Yerim softly said. She sounded shy or maybe ashamed, either way it caused a panic in Hyejoo to erupt. 

“You don’t need to say sorry! You didn’t do anything wrong Yerim. If you hadn’t stopped me I seriously would’ve beat the shit out of him. He better hope I don’t see him again, or I swear it’s on sight,” Hyejoo uncharacteristically rambled out in an angry whisper. Her eyes were full of fiery rage at the thought of Yerim feeling guilty because of some pervert. 

Yerim softly smiled. 

“Thank you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the school day was uneventful. Hyejoo had spent it scribbling poorly drawn cherries on her notebook this time. She had even gotten chewed out when she forgot her homework, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. 

When the final bell rang she almost ran to Yerim’s classroom. Hyejoo was excited to go home, all she wanted to do was sleep. She had stayed up late playing games on her laptop.

Hyejoo wasn’t the only one waiting for Yerim though. Several students that came from different classrooms and even floors were outside the door. It made Hyejoo roll her eyes. Hyejoo really didn’t understand the huge fan base. Yerim was a regular girl, she was dorky and even airheaded at times. Sure she was pretty, but...Hyejoo frowned. 

Yerim was really pretty, but what was it that Hyejoo wanted to say? She rubbed her chin in deep thought as she leaned against the large windows facing the entrance of the school. Maybe she was desensitized? Her frown deepened as she thought about it. Yerim didn’t scream sexy but a lot of boys drooled over her. Hyejoo must have been missing something. 

She shook that thought from her head. She would never want to make Yerim uncomfortable with thinking about her like that. Hyejoo pinched the bridge of her nose at the sudden flashes of her dreams. A knot of guilt situated itself in her gut as she looked towards the door, the abrupt commotion announcing Yerim’s appearance. 

She was laughing at something a classmate was whispering into her ear. She’s your best friend, Hyejoo thought, squeezing her left index and middle finger in her right hand. When Yerim’s eyes landed on Hyejoo she was quick to say her goodbyes. She skipped over to Hyejoo who was still trying to understand her confusing feelings. 

“Wow are you doing a math problem in there? You’re frowning so hard,” Yerim joked, linking one arm with Hyejoo’s. 

“No. Not everyone sucks at math like you,” Hyejoo retorted, happy for the distraction. She pushed off the wall and practically dragged Yerim to the stairwell. If they didn’t move quickly then people would stop them to try to speak to Yerim. 

“Woah, hold on there!” Yerim grunted, putting her foot down to try to hold back Hyejoo’s exit. 

“Aren’t you forgetting about a certain club?” She asked, tilting her head to the side cutely. 

The Newspaper club. She yanked her arm back like she had been burned. “I’m not going,” she said, already missing the warmth of Yerim’s hold. 

“Why are you being a baby? I told Jiwoo I would take you there myself. Don’t make me a liar,” Yerim pouted, reaching out once more for Hyejoo. Yerim had always been a clingy girl growing up, nothing had changed. 

Hyejoo took a step back, “seriously Yerim, I’m not interested. You shouldn’t have told them that if you didn’t want to look like a liar.” 

Hyejoo could tell they had caught the attention of students passing by. It was hard not being watched when you were standing next to one of the most popular girls in school. 

“Just go to one meeting. One meeting and that’s it you don’t have to go ever again if you don’t like it! I promise!” Yerim pleaded grabbing ahold of Hyejoo’s hand. It was desperate, Hyejoo didn’t like it at all. She felt her body tense with worry. 

Why did it mean so much to Yerim if she was in a club or not? She couldn’t possibly be that worried about her not eating lunch with anyone could she? Just then a thought popped into Hyejoo’s head. One that brought a deep sense of dread. 

Hyejoo must have been becoming a burden on Yerim. Maybe her friends had complained about not being able to eat together often? Or worse yet, what if Yerim had realized having someone like Hyejoo would bring down her popularity. 

“Are you okay? You’re biting your lip really hard, you might bleed,” Yerim said, placing a hand on Hyejoo’s chin. 

Hyejoo dipped her head away, her heart was pounding in her chest. The sting of tears were burning her eyes and she quickly shut them. 

“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?” Yerim asked, bringing herself closer to Hyejoo. Her body had gone rigid. Yerim thought she could see the tremble of Hyejoo’s lip. 

Willing the dread to stay at bay she shook her head at Yerim’s approaching body. Yerim frowned, Hyejoo was acting weird. 

“Sorry, you know meeting new people makes me nervous,” Hyejoo lamely blamed her awkwardness. She took a deep breath and allowed for Yerim to link their arms again.

“Show me the way,” with heavy footsteps Hyejoo was pulled upstairs to the club room. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jungeun blankly stared at her members, the two of the three girls in return squirmed in their seats. The other one stared at her fingernails with keen interest. 

“Is this seriously it?” She groaned out, holding her head in her hands. She had been put in charge once the seniors graduated. It was the worst thing that could’ve happened to her. She absolutely hated having to take responsibility. She swore it made her break out in hives. However, looking around the room she knew no one else could do it.

Jiwoo glanced at the door before turning to look at her watch. Their meeting was about to start and no one had come in. Pulling out her phone she checked for any notifications from the girl she met the day before. She pouted when all she saw were the many likes and comments left on her newest instagram post. 

“Didn’t you guys brag about catching some sophomore?” Jungeun asked, bringing her head up to glare at Jiwoo. She should’ve known better than to believe anything that came out of her mouth. 

“We totally did!” Jiwoo chirped, crossing her arms against her chest. She turned to look at chaewon who looked unsure. 

“Chae!” Jiwoo whined, shaking the girl around in her seat by her shoulder. “We did, your crush even said she would bring her here!” 

At that Chaewon’s face began to burn, she awkwardly slapped Jiwoo’s hand away. This brought the attention of her other members. Jungeun narrowed her eyes at Chaewon before slipping off the desk she was perched on. 

“Don’t tell me this is some stupid plan that Jiwoo undoubtfully created to get you closer to Miss Sunshine out of my ass?” Jungeun asked, poking an accusing finger into Chaewon’s already bruised shoulder. 

Chaewon avoided Jungeun’s question to glare at a snickering Hyunjin. 

“Hey! Her name is Yerim and she’s super sweet! You’ve even said so yourself!” Jiwoo answered, grabbing Jungeun’s tiny finger and pulling it towards her. 

Jungeun rolled her eyes at that. Sure, Yerim was a super sweet girl but that didn’t stop her from being annoying. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. So? Is this some weird Yerim plan?” 

“Of course not!” Chaewon after what felt like five minutes, responded. She hated how obvious her affection for the younger girl was. As soon as Jiwoo found out, she had been teased about it mercilessly. 

A loud knock on the door put a pin in their conversation as they fell silent. Jiwoo let go of Jungeun’s finger and mouthed “answer” at her. 

Frowning, Jungeun nervously scratched her temple before clearing her throat. 

“Come in!” She yelled out in the sweetest voice she could muster. Her seniors had given her a few tips before leaving. “Always be pure in the beginning. If you act like your normal self too early, you’ll definitely scare away the fresh meat.” Those words echoed in her head as she quickly fixed her collar. 

Yerim timidly peeked in before catching Jiwoo’s stare. They both broke out into huge smiles as she confidently swung the door open.

“Jiwoo! Look who I brought with me!” Yerim happily said, pulling a hesitant Hyejoo along. 

Jungeun’s eyebrows raised in quiet surprise. She didn’t actually expect The Yerim to come into their small room. Feeling self conscious she glanced around, they weren’t that messy were they? The left corner of the room was stacked with old newspapers. It was almost as tall as Chaewon. Their chalk board was also full of a bunch of doodles. She winced when she saw a couple of bad words coming out of a cat drawing. They hadn’t even cleaned up their lunch yet and it was dumped across the desk.

Holy shit, they were going to lose the club. Yerim would see their mess of a room and report back to her little court. They’d be axed for sure, Jungeun nervously bit at her thumbnail. 

Behind Hyejoo, a much smaller girl walked in, her head held high. 

Jiwoo wrapped Yerim into a hug before doing the same to Hyejoo. She didn’t mind that Hyejoo seemed to resist her hold. Peeking behind Hyejoo she took notice of the small girl and beamed a smile at her.

“Oh my gosh! You’re so tiny!” Jiwoo said, almost pushing Hyejoo out of the way. 

Hyejoo stumbled into Chaewon before scoffing. Looking down at the sitting girl she stared blankly at her. Her eyes scanned Chaewon’s doll features, she was really pretty and it was insanely annoying. 

“Hi girls! I haven’t seen you all in a while huh?” Yerim asked, glancing at each of them. Her smile faltered as she noticed the glare Jungeun was giving her. Hyunjin was no better, that girl was hard for Yerim to get a read on.

“I’m not tiny!” The deep booming voice brought their attention to Jiwoo and her victim. Jiwoo was patting the short girls head lovingly. 

“Um, Jiwoo?” Jungeun groaned, taking a step towards them. 

“Mm?” Jiwoo happily hummed back, her hand still petting the smaller girl. Strangely enough the other girl didn’t seem to protest the way her head tilted forward with each swipe of Jiwoo’s hand. 

In a blink of an eye, Hyunjin was standing by Jiwoo’s side. She gripped Jiwoo’s hand in place, shaking her head disapprovingly. 

“You’re supposed to ask first,” Hyunjin said, calmly, putting Jiwoo’s hand away 

Her big eyes turned to the shorter girl, it made her shrink back in fear. 

“May I?” Hyunjin sweetly asked, a cat-like smile spreading across her face. 

“U-u...uh,” the shorter girl choked out, before giving a weak nod. 

“See,” Hyunjin said to Jiwoo. She brought her hand up and laid it flat against the shorter girl's head. 

“Are you two real life idiots!?” Jungeun yelled out, completely horrified at her member's actions. She pushed past Yerim and Hyejoo to reach Jiwoo and Hyunjin. Grabbing them by their collars she pushed their heads down. 

“Apologize. Now.” Jungeun gritted out, the smaller girl looked like she wanted to make her way out of the club room. 

“I’m sorry,” both girls whined out in unionsion, the pinch on their necks getting tighter. 

With that a screech of laughter filled the room. Jungeun let both girls go to turn around to find the source. Hyejoo was holding her stomach as she let her body tremble.

Yerim stared at her in surprise before a small smile tugged at her lips. 

This was a good match. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The room was quieter now that everyone was sitting. Yerim had left for her club meeting almost twenty minutes ago. She had clung to Hyejoo before whispering a “wait for me after,” that made the taller girl blush. She had been very aware of the 5 sets of eyes watching them curiously. 

“So,” Jungeun started, clearing her throat and looking at the paper in her hands. It was the list they had made when Hyunjin lost at Rock Paper Scissors and was put on lunch duty. She knew how important it was to look professional. 

“Now that our club meeting has officially begun, we should start it off with some introductions,” Jungeun said with a smile. She ran her finger down the list before stopping halfway down and nodding. She tapped her finger against Jiwoo’s order of three bowls of tteokbokki.

“Let’s have our youngest start, Chaewon, go for it,” Jungeun ordered. While she was smiling, it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Instead a threatening stare burned holes into Chaewon’s head. 

Chaewon’s eyes widened at the clear danger before she shot up from her seat. She had been on the receiving end of Jungeun’s punishments too many times to play around. Although, the majority of the time it was Jiwoo or Hyunjin’s antics that got her in trouble. 

“Hello everyone, my name is Park Chaewon. I’m a junior and my position in this club is managing editor,” Chaewon said, glancing at the new members nervously. They stared at her blankly, it made her eyebrows twitch. 

“Oh come on! Give us a little more, why did you join the club?,” Jungeun prodded, bringing the attention back to her with a wave of her hand. Chaewon had to do her best to hold back a groan.

She thought back to her sophomore year, specifically her English teacher. She had been cornered one day, it was the first time she had felt pity for an adult. Her teacher had begged her to join the club, letting her know they were about to disband. The only members were the seniors and they wouldn’t be as focused since they’d be preparing for college entrance exams. Chaewon hummed at the thought, she definitely couldn’t say that. 

“I joined because I love to write, and I’ve been told that I have talent for it,” Chaewon proudly lied. Jungeun’s eyebrow raised slowly at that. She would definitely have to punish Chaewon. They might have been shitty journalists but they were still journalists. Their integrity was tied with being truthful. 

With a small clap of her hands Jungeun pointed towards Hyunjin. “Next!” 

Chaewon and Jungeun eyed her nervously knowing full well that the girl could be...eccentric. Hyunjin stood from her seat to stare down at the new girls. It was extremely intimidating. 

“I’m Kim Hyunjin, I’m a junior and also the sports editor here,” she calmly said. Jungeun sighed in relief, of course, she should put more trust in Hyunjin. She wouldn’t do something stu-

“I’m also the resident cat!” Hyunjin said, a sly smile on her lips as she brought her balled up fists in the air and swiped twice. She burst out in giggles at Jungeun covering her eyes in shame. Jiwoo let out a squeal, always finding Hyunjin’s playfulness endearing. Hyejoo scowled at the act of cuteness, she wasn’t expecting Hyunjin to be like that. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t a little disappointed.

“Hyunjin...please,” Jungeun groaned, sliding her hand down her face and ending at her chin. 

Hyunjin pouted before looking up in thought, with a nod of her head she straightened up. She eyed the stack of newspapers in the corner with a serious stare. “I joined after an accident forced me to stop playing sports.”

Jungeun dropped her hand in surprise. She looked over at Jiwoo, whose face had quickly contorted with sadness. Chaewon was no better, her hands had gripped the end of her skirt, a tight pull in her stomach unnerving her. 

Hyejoo’s eyes traveled down the standing girl's body looking for a sign of her accident. When her eyes landed on Hyunjin's knee, she quickly looked away. Hyunjin had pink dented skin around her otherwise spotless right knee.

“What happened?” The small girl who looked like a middle schooler asked in awe. Hyejoo shot her a glare, how could she seriously be asking that?

Hyunjin blinked away old feelings that threatened to come out before scratching at her cheek. 

“Woah! I made everything super serious,” Hyunjin giggled, only looking somewhat embarrassed. “Sorry about that. Mm I used to play basketball, one bad fall and boom!” Hyunjin lightly slapped her right knee, “she was a goner, but I have really good relations with several teams here. So that’s why I’m in charge of sports editor.” 

The small girl pouted and nodded understandingly. Hyejoo was impressed at how easily Hyunjin was able to answer. If it had been her, Hyejoo bit her lip, she didn’t know what she would do. 

Jungeun cleared her throat once more, “let’s move on, Jiwoo it’s your turn.” 

Jiwoo gave Hyunjin one last glance before standing. With a deep breath she beamed a smile at the new girls and gave a small twirl. 

“My name is Jiwoo! It’s nice to meet you girls, I’m so happy you decided to check us out. I’m a junior and also the director of photography! But that’s not all I can do!” Jiwoo ranted out. She was able to lighten the mood with her sweet demeanor. 

Pulling out her phone she practically shoved it in the new girls faces. 

“I also handle our social media! Oh you girls should totally follow me after this by the way!” Jiwoo squealed out again. Hyejoo brought her hand up to her ear, she was louder than Yerim. 

“I joined the club cause I love to take photos!” Jiwoo then pointed to the camera on the desk. “That’s my baby, you can borrow her if you’d like. I’d love to teach you if you’re interested. Also that! that’s my other baby,” Jiwoo almost screamed out in excitement. She was pointing at an external hard drive connected to one of the two desktops in the room. 

Chaewon giggled at the older girl's excitement before catching Hyejoo’s eyes. Their staring contest was only broken when Jungeun spoke up. 

“Okay Jiwoo! I think that’s enough of an introduction,” Jungeun said, finally standing up and putting a hand on the girls shoulder. Jiwoo pouted before nodding in agreement. She knew she could get a little excited sometimes. 

“So that leaves me, my name is Kim Jungeun. I’m a junior and the editor in chief,” she said making her way to the new girls. 

“I take my responsibilities seriously and hope that any new member would do the same. In being a part of our team you become the people’s voice. You’re the connection and the community around you counts on you to act with integrity.” 

Jungeun was truly smiling at them and it was contagious. Hyejoo couldn’t believe it but that actually sounded pretty cool. 

“So, I’d like it if the new faces here could give us a little introduction. You know who we are, now it’s your turn,” Jungeun said waving for the smaller girl to go first. 

The small girl that looked like she would be asked to step out of a line for a rollercoaster for being too short, stood up. 

“I’m a freshman, my name is Im Yeojin. I think journalists are really cool and would like to be one in the future,” she said in a surprisingly deep voice. Yeojin looked around the room, the eyes of her seniors all on her pushed her to continue. 

“It’d be really great if I could be accepted as a member! I’ll work really hard, and I’m relentless. I think that would make me a good journalist!” Yeojin raised her voice, feeling pressure as she lowered her head. 

Before she could stop herself Jungeun had softly chuckled and reached out for Yeojin’s head. She gave it a small pat before turning to look at Hyejoo. 

“Next,” Jungeun said, avoiding the incredulous looks Jiwoo and Hyunjin shot her. 

Hyejoo stood up, watching as Yeojin took a seat with a small smile. She was nervous, which didn’t make sense. She didn’t even want to be in the club in the first place. But Yerim’s worried face flashed in her mind and okay sue her! The girls in the room weren’t the worst she’d ever met. They actually seemed a little fun if she was being honest. 

“I’m Son Hyejoo. I’m a sophomore and honestly I wasn’t planning to show up today,” she bravely said. Jiwoo’s mouth fell open and Jungeun’s lips twisted in a smirk. 

“I’m glad I stopped by though, this seems like a cool club,” with a huff Hyejoo lowered her head, “please accept my membership!”

Hyunjin scratched at her cheek once more, glancing over at Jungeun. Chaewon stifled a laugh as she watched Hyejoo, her hair covered her face like a curtain. Even though Hyejoo had done nothing but glare at her the entire time, Chaewon felt her heart melt.

Hyejoo stared at the ground as Chaewon’s tiny shoe bumped against Jungeun’s. The taller girl moved her weight from one leg to the other. This was getting embarrassing, Hyejoo thought, mimicking Jungeun movement. 

With a rather harder pet to Hyejoo’s head, Jungeun finally made her decision. 

“Kids these days!” She said, placing her hands on her hips. “I think you two will fit right in,” she watched as Hyejoo lifted her head. Hyejoo was pouting, slowly she rubbed the assaulted area. Jungeun scrunched her face up in laughter. She was delighted to know Hyejoo wasn’t as scary as she originally came off. 

Jiwoo sprang from her chair and brought Hyejoo and Yeojin into a tight hug. 

“This is going to be so much fun!” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After receiving the official paperwork to become a member, Hyejoo and Yeojin were sent on their way. Hyejoo had closed the door only to hear an angry, muffled Jungeun scold the girls. Yeojin had coolly thrown a “see you,” over her shoulder before skipping off. 

Hyejoo slowly walked to where Yerim had told her to wait for her. The sun was setting and the light coming from the windows casted her in an orange glow. Coming to stand right in front of the door, she waited silently. Hyejoo didn’t hear anyone inside, for a brief second she wondered if Yerim had left already. The sad feeling from earlier had come back in her solitude. 

Just as she was about to turn around and head home, the door whipped open. Hyejoo stumbled back as she came face to face with a tall blonde. The girl harshly squinted at her before calling over her shoulder. 

“I can’t see anything!”, she whined. Another girl just as tall walked over with a groan. 

“Seriously Jinsoul? How about you stop forgetting your glasses. If you’re going to be a baby about your contacts you should just completely switch over,” the girl huffed, throwing short black hair over her shoulder. When her eyes landed on Hyejoo, her frown disappeared. 

“Oh,” she said softly, placing the round framed glasses into Jinsoul’s waiting hands. “Do you need help with something?”

Hyejoo watched as Jinsoul put her glasses on only to squint at her again. 

“Are you lost?” Jinsoul asked, looking down the hall. They were the only ones on this floor, at this hour. 

They shared concerned looks when Hyejoo failed to answer their questions. 

Hyejoo’s eyes had instead focused on the inside of the club room. It was much larger than the one she had been in just minutes before. She noticed they even had a window in their room. Yerim stood by it while looking down at something in her palm intensely. 

When Hyejoo felt the buzz of her phone she looked down. She pulled it from her coat's pocket and saw Yerim’s name. She was calling, the sounds of the two girls talking to her faded into the background as she slid her finger to the right. 

“Hey, where are you?” Yerim spoke softly, she was now looking at her watch with a small pout. Her meeting had run a little longer than she had expected. She worried that Hyejoo had decided to go home without her. 

Hyejoo simply smiled, “I’m right here,” she answered. The two girls in front of her looked back and forth at them, confused. This was the first time they had ever seen someone actually pick Yerim up. They were immediately suspicious.

Yerim’s head quickly snapped to the right and she locked eyes with Hyejoo. She cracked a bright smile as Hyejoo spoke into the phone once more. 

“Let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow okiedokie! 
> 
> So we got a little introduction to our newspaper club. Fortunately, you can expect the plot to really start making waves in the next chapter! 
> 
> Please feel free to leave comments and kudos if you liked it. As always any kind of feedback is greatly appreciated! Let me know what you thought, I’d love to hear from you guys!
> 
> Stay safe in doors y’all~


	3. Dreaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a plan backfires, Hyejoo has to deal with the consequences.

The sun glared down on the top of Hyejoo’s head, she let out a soft groan as she leaned back. It was the end of the week and she was eating lunch by herself on the school bleachers. Yerim, true to her previous warnings, had become busy with her student council activities. She had expected the loneliness but it still sucked. She grumbled underneath her breath as she lifted a pale hand above her eyes.

Hyejoo focused on the upperclassmen making their way out to the track. They were all dressed in blue shorts and plain white t-shirts. She would hate to be them, she thought. She had never been any good when it came to endurance. After all she spent most of her days behind a computer playing games. Sighing, she leaned further back until her arms were resting on the row behind her. She hummed in amusement as she watched groups of girls squeal and ogle the guys they deemed hot. 

The coach on the track was quick to separate the boys and girls. They were even split into groups of four by the coach’s rhythmic whistling. They must’ve stretched before coming down, she thought as she watched several boys line up. When the first batch of runners took off, Hyejoo closed her eyes. A rare gust of wind had blown in her direction making her forget about the heat.

“Yo!” a familiar voice called out, Hyejoo’s eyes fluttered open before she lazily looked behind her. Yeojin was smiling down at her from the top of the bleachers, she had sweet bread in each hand. 

Yeojin hopped down each row with a resounding thud, causing Hyejoo to let out a chuckle. The girls to their left shot them annoyed looks, but Yeojin didn’t pay them any attention. She looked like a little frog, Hyejoo thought, sitting up properly. She hadn’t expected to see anyone she knew. 

“How’d you know I was here?” Hyejoo questioned, once Yeojin had come to a stop next to her. The girl plopped down and handed Hyejoo a bread wordlessly.  
Hyejoo had never been one to reject food and she had regretfully skipped lunch, so she eagerly accepted. 

“I was walking by when I saw you heading down here. So I thought, why not see what you’re up to,” Yeojin said, ripping into the plastic wrap around her bread. 

“Shouldn’t you be in class though?” Hyejoo asked, raising an eyebrow at that. She knew the freshman ate earlier than the rest of the grades. 

Yeojin threw her head back, her mouth full, she let out a strangled laugh. Hyejoo scrunched her face up in disgust. “That’s gross,” she muttered as she ripped the plastic wrap clean off. 

Yeojin just laughed harder, quickly covering her mouth when she felt spit dribble down her chin. Painfully swallowing her food down, she took a deep breath. 

“I decided to take a break, I needed some food,” Yeojin said seriously. She was almost done with her bread by the second bite. 

Hyejoo narrowed her eyes at that. “Are you sure you’re not just skipping class?”

Yeojin shook her head, “no way, I stopped by class, there was nothing going on.”

Hyejoo chuckled, “so? Just cause there’s nothing going on, doesn’t mean you can just get up and leave. You could get in trouble, you know?” she mumbled into her bread, she instantly frowned. 

She sounded a lot like Yerim with her constant nagging, it made her want to roll her eyes. Hyejoo knew she wasn’t one to talk, she had already been planning to skip. Plus, the week before she had been punished several times for taking too long on break. But, Yeojin was younger, so she figured she should at least try to set a good example. 

“Are you my mom or something?” Yeojin groaned, bumping her shoulder against Hyejoo’s. 

Hyejoo laughed and shrugged, “I just wouldn’t want you being kicked out of the club before it even really started.” 

Yeojin stared wide eyed at her with a few crumbs stuck to her chin. Biting her lip to hide a smile she quietly mumbled out, “I guess you’re right, I’ll try not to skip anymore.”

Hyejoo nodded, feeling accomplished. This was probably why Yerim loved bossing her around when it came to school. She glanced over at Yeojin before smirking.

“Plus it’s better for me since you’re younger, they can pick on you instead.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It’s so hot out here!” Jinsoul whined, clinging to her friend’s arm. 

The other girl tried to pull away, “if it’s so damn hot why do you keep grabbing me! you’re gonna make me sweaty,” her friend cried out.

“Girls, play nice,” a much shorter girl said. It was hot though, and she was glad that Jinsoul wasn’t attached to her like that. She pulled on the collar of her shirt to let in more air with a pout.

“Haseul!” The other girl whined, finally ripping her arm away from Jinsoul’s grip. She quickly put distance between them to Jinsoul’s displeasure.

“Sooyoung!,” Haseul mimicked, laughing when the taller girl shot her a glare. She couldn’t get over how easy it was to pick on them. Even though they were only months apart in age, they always seemed much younger. 

Sooyoung fanned herself before speaking, “I think I’m going to have to put in a complaint to the president.”

Jinsoul pouted and quickly covered the distance, sticking herself back onto Sooyoung. “Yeah that’s right, the president should know about this.” Her chin was resting on Sooyoung’s shoulder.

Sooyoung rolled her eyes at the contact but continued anyway. She was used to her blonde friend’s clingy behavior. If anyone asked she would vehemently deny it, but she enjoyed the affection. 

“What will the president think when she finds out how horrible we’re being treated!” Sooyoung pretended to wipe away a tear. Jinsoul’s giggles at her antics, fueled her more. “We might even have to get the principal involved!”

Haseul smirked before shrugging her tiny shoulders, “you should ask her yourself.” She pointed behind them with a nod of her chin. Their president was creeping up behind them with a smile from ear to ear. 

Both Jinsoul and Sooyoung let out screeches as they felt ice cold bottles touch the back of their thighs. They dropped to the floor and turned their heads to glare at the girl above them. 

She giggled before handing out the bottles to them with a mischievous grin. When Jinsoul complained of thirst she had silently walked off to go get them something to drink.

“Woow Kahei!” Jinsoul huffed, snatching the offered water bottle from the smaller girl's hand. She cracked it open and swallowed a large gulp before letting out a happy sigh.

“I think you’re starting to pick up some bad habits from the vice president, Kahei,” Sooyoung added, taking her time to stand up. She took the water bottle with a pout, earning another giggle from their president. 

“You girls are the bad influence!” Kahei said, shaking her head. With a grunt she pulled Jinsoul’s limp body up. They had gained the attention of their surrounding classmates, particularly the boys. Kahei was quick to move them closer into their own bubble. She had never been a fan of the hungry looks her friends received during PE. 

Jinsoul sluggishly allowed herself to be dragged by Kahei who was secretly a lot stronger than she looked. When Kahei had moved them far enough Jinsoul immediately wrapped her in a hug. She was soft and Jinsoul’s hands came up to touch Kahei’s chubby cheeks. It was Jinsoul’s favorite part of the shorter girl's body.

“At least I can count on you to give me love,” Jinsoul muttered into the top of Kahei’s head. Her brown hair smelled sweet like strawberry. Kahei giggled, she didn’t find the fact that Jinsoul had sniffed her weird at all. 

Sooyoung snorted at them, Kahei was surprisingly just as clingy as Jinsoul. The only difference was that Kahei wasn’t so vocal about her affection. She would just force them to hold her or she’d wrap her strong arms around the members silently. It was comforting, unlike Jinsoul’s high pitched whining. 

“Oh you just reminded me, Haseul did you receive those new club forms?” Kahei asked, switching back into president mode. Jinsoul rolled her eyes at being totally ignored. She huffed and quickly let go so that the two girls could talk. It was so easy, Kahei thought, bringing her hand up to cover the laugh that threatened to slip out.

Jinsoul walked over to Sooyoung who was staring towards the bleachers. Putting her hand above her eyes to help her see, she squinted. 

“Whatcha looking at?” Jinsoul slurred out in a lazy tone. The heat had sucked out all her energy and they hadn’t even been picked to run yet. 

Sooyoung broke out into a dangerous grin, which caused Jinsoul to take a step back in surprise. 

“Woah you look super creepy right now!” She laughed, flipping blonde hair behind her shoulder. She could already tell that Sooyoung was planning something. 

“Look over there...isn’t that the girl that picked Yerim up the other day?” Sooyoung all but whispered. She threw a glance at Haseul and Kahei to make sure they hadn’t noticed anything. They would ruin the fun if they knew what she wanted to do, she thought. 

Jinsoul squinted harder, her eyes jumped from girl to girl until she finally landed on a blob that resembled Yerim’s friend. 

“Mm yeah that kinda looks like her. You have really good eyesight, Sooyoung,” Jinsoul complimented her, giving her a small pat on the shoulder. She wished she could leave the house without glasses or contacts. Maybe when she was finally an adult she would get lasik eye surgery. She grabbed her stomach at the thought, queasiness fluttering up to her chest. 

“Thanks, but that’s not why I pointed her out. We should go talk to her,” Sooyoung said, beginning to rock on the balls of her heels with chaotic energy. She was bored, but mostly nosy. Since the summer, Yerim seemed different. She was way more distracted lately. At first Sooyoung had thought that Yerim had finally gotten into a relationship. She felt awkward just outright asking Yerim about her personal life. So, when she heard from the student council speaker, that it was a transfer student that had Yerim acting funny. She knew she had to investigate as an older sister should. 

Jinsoul scrunched her face up in confusion, “huh? Why would we do that?” She absolutely hated the idea of having to cross the majority of the track to get to Yerim’s friend. It sounded like a hassle and she barely wanted to be standing. 

Sooyoung turned to fully face Jinsoul, her brows were knitted with light annoyance. 

“Come on! Aren’t you curious? I’ve been hearing that Yerim only hangs out with some random loner transfer student. It’ll be fun, I just want to see what she’s about,” Sooyoung rushed out in a whisper. She could’ve gone by herself, but it was better with Jinsoul. They were a tag team when it came to these types of situations.

Jinsoul brought her hand up to rub at her chin in thought. It had been awhile since they last played this game. “Okay...but only if I get to be the bad cop,” she said grinning. She knew Sooyoung was just worried about Yerim. They had all talked about it one day right before school began. Kahei had argued it wasn’t any of their business. Haseul had leaned more towards Sooyoung’s side. She wanted to know about Yerim’s new relationship. Jinsoul had already asked and been told the truth. Yerim’s childhood best friend was transferring to their school. When she mentioned it to the other girls they blew her off. Mumbles of “it must be a secret lover,” filled the air instead. Peace of mind for Sooyoung was a good enough reason to follow through, Jinsoul thought.

Sooyoung let out a chuckle as she nodded along to her friend's easy request. They were undeniably beautiful, tall, and intimidating. When they had the chance to tease the student body they often alternated their acting positions. Locking arms with Jinsoul, she gave one last glance at Haseul and Kahei. 

This should be fun. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Jiwoo was telling me you still haven’t messaged her,” Yeojin spoke into the palm of her left hand. Her right hand was busy sending out a message. 

Hyejoo frowned and sat up, “you’re talking to her?” 

Yeojin nodded in response, flashing her phone at Hyejoo’s probing stare. 

Even with the quick glimpse she could see that their conversations were long and detailed. “What are you guys even talking about?” Hyejoo asked, slipping her phone out of her pocket. Looking down at it she realized she had a couple of unread texts from Yerim. A picture of her lunch and several heart emojis were swiped away when Hyejoo unlocked her phone. She had only saved Jiwoo’s number in her contact list, never bothering to send a text. 

“A lot of stuff, she’s pretty nice,” Yeojin hummed, giving a quick look at Hyejoo who was frowning. “Unlike you,” she teased, suddenly typing furiously. Jiwoo had sent her a gif of a monkey at a desk angrily pushing keys on a laptop, a caption of “Jungeun” attached to it. 

“How has she not gotten annoyed yet?” Hyejoo taunted, clicking on Jiwoo’s contact information. Even though they had barely spent any time together she could tell Yeojin was a restless kid. She could feel her life force being drained and fed to Yeojin’s hyperactive tendencies. 

With a clap of her small hands, she put her phone down and brightly smiled at Hyejoo. “Guess who’s on their way!” Yeojin asked, almost vibrating in her seat with excitement. She wanted to get closer to her new club members. She hadn’t grown up with any siblings and was looking forward to bonding.

The sudden heavy footsteps coming right towards them, stopped Hyejoo from responding. She turned to look at the approaching girls with a questioning stare. They stuck out like sore thumbs, their clothes looking somehow scandalous. It made no sense since everyone was wearing the same outfit. 

“Woah,” Yeojin breathed out, shrinking in her seat at the power the pair radiated. When they came to a stop in front of Hyejoo, she shot her a bewildered look. This was the first time she had seen them so up close. They had been present when the school principal welcomed the freshman class. However, Yeojin was sitting too far back to make out any details. 

“Hey there,” Sooyoung started, smiling at Hyejoo sweetly. It was an instant red flag Yeojin thought, looking over at Hyejoo with worry. She had heard rumors of the student council. Rumors that would send shivers down any underclassman’s spine. 

Jinsoul on the other hand had her arms crossed over her chest. She nodded at Hyejoo in greeting. Both girls didn’t spare a glance at Yeojin, who watched their every movement. Hyejoo gave her surroundings a onceover to make sure they were speaking to her.

“Uh, hello,” Hyejoo replied, she had no idea why a pair of seniors would be talking to her. She wondered if they might have mixed her up with someone else.

“Do you by any chance happen to be friends with Choi Yerim?” Sooyoung asked, tilting her head to the side. The smile was still present, but something about the look made Hyejoo curl her fingers into a fist. It felt like a trap, Hyejoo decided, glancing between both girls. 

“Ah!” Hyejoo snapped her fingers in remembrance, she quickly pointed to Jinsoul. “You’re that glasses nerd,” she said, a bored stare burning a hole in the blonde's face. She briefly wondered if they belonged to Yerim’s club. Instead, she concluded that they were probably just fangirls. Hyejoo was starting to get tired of having strangers come up to her just to talk to Yerim. 

“I-uh,” Jinsoul stumbled out, her arms unraveling in embarrassment. Her bravado deflated and heat creeped up her neck. If there was one thing she was self conscious about it was her stupid glasses. She had a reputation to protect and those huge rimmed frames always ruined everything. 

Sooyoung tightly shut her eyes and bit on her tongue to stop from laughing. She hadn’t expected Yerim’s friend to be a troublemaker. This was even more of a reason they should be curious. They had to make sure this girl didn’t corrupt their little sunshine 

Yeojin’s eyes looked like they were about to pop right out of her tiny head. She put a frantic hand on Hyejoo’s bicep. She was starting to believe Hyejoo had no clue who they were. Or maybe she just had a death wish. Either way, they were definitely not the kind of people that Hyejoo should be teasing so casually. She bit her lip as she thought about stopping Hyejoo before she could ruin her academic career so early. 

“Um Hyejoo,” Yeojin whispered. 

“You got some nerve kid,” Sooyoung said, recovering from the initial blow. She ran a cool hand through her dark locks. This had the big potential of just becoming a bad cop, bad cop scenario, she thought anxiously. 

“Yeah who do you think you are? Shouldn’t you have more respect for your senior?” Jinsoul huffed, she notoriously had a short temper. She had stepped forward with a scowl. 

“Huh? You’re the ones who came up to me,” Hyejoo retorted, she stood up to come to a more even playing field. Hyejoo hadn’t meant to cause an argument, she had only been messing around. However, she wasn’t about to let some blondie look down on her. 

Sooyoung let out a scoff as she quickly crossed her arms. This was definitely getting out of hand. “Do you even know who we are?” It slipped out of Sooyoung’s perfectly shaped lips and she instantly regretted it. She hated pulling that card, it made them sound like bratty bitches. Which they often were, but this wasn’t supposed to be that serious.

Yeojin shot up off the bench this time, grabbing Hyejoo’s arm more tightly. “Let’s go!” Yeojin squeaked out, Hyejoo glared at her in return. Yeojin held back a whimper when she saw the vicious stare Jinsoul gave her. Her hand retracted from Hyejoo and she took a step back. She knew she was short, and she had no plans of being stepped on. 

“Why would I waste my time knowing who you losers are?” Hyejoo spat out, turning her glare on Sooyoung. Something about the girl's stupidly gorgeous face pissed her off even more. 

Jinsoul’s brows were tightly knitted together, her fingers had curled into fists. Yeojin had to hold back the instinct to run away. Her body took another step back, there was no way she could help Hyejoo now. 

“You seriously have a mouth on you. Someone should teach you some manners,” Jinsoul practically growled out, taking another step forward. They were mere inches away from each other now. 

“Oh yeah? Is that going to be you? Bring it blondie,” Hyejoo sneered, moving herself closer to Jinsoul. This wouldn't be the first time she got in a fight at school. It had even been one of the reasons why she had transferred before. She would make a mental note to stop before breaking any bones this time. 

“Jin-“ Sooyoung got out before Hyejoo was forcefully pulled back and off her feet. Sooyoung flinched back at the movement. For a second she believed Jinsoul had thrown the first punch. When she turned towards the girl she saw that she was just as shocked. Her arms were stuck to her sides like a confused penguin. 

Hyejoo fell back onto the bench with a thud and a wince. She craned her head back to see Chaewon glaring down at her. Her small fingers were still wrapped around Hyejoo’s coat collar. 

“Uh,” Hyejoo squeaked out, blinking away the pain that had bloomed across her ass. The world around her had come back into focus. She glanced around to see they had definitely made a scene. Shit. 

“I’m sorry about her. She’s still a kid, she didn’t mean any disrespect,” Chaewon quickly apologized on her behalf, earning a disgruntled grunt from Hyejoo. She squeezed the taller girl's coat at the sound. Her whole body was tingling, embarrassment, adrenaline, and anger.

Like a switch Jinsoul’s demeanor changed. A pout replaced her scowl and she took a hold of Sooyoung’s arm. She totally forgot they were just supposed to be acting. Sooyoung would make sure to take away the bad cop position from her now.

“I think we went a little too far,” she whispered into Sooyoung’s ear. Her hand had come up to cup around her lips to hide her words from curious eyes. 

Yeojin’s stare bounced from Chaewon and Jinsoul. She couldn’t believe that Hyejoo was almost going to fight the student council treasurer. 

Sooyoung nodded and exaggerated a sigh, “don’t worry about it! I think we all got a little carried away.” It wasn’t often that the students they teased talked back to them. They would just have to come up with another plan to find out about Yerim’s friend.

“Yeah, no hard feelings,” Jinsoul added with a wave of her hand. She smiled at Chaewon before turning to watch Sooyoung’s profile. She couldn’t help but think about how annoyed her friend would end up being. They hadn’t even been able to get any information out of the younger girl.

Sooyoung smirked at Hyejoo before dragging Jinsoul away with her, “we’ll see you around.” 

“What the hell was that about,” Hyejoo grumbled out angrily. She only remembered she was still being held onto when she felt the tug on her collar. 

She whirled her head back in surprise to look at Chaewon.

“Let’s go.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The walk back to the club room had been a quiet and tense one. Chaewon had led them and not once checked to make sure they were following after. Hyejoo had to force herself not to turn every time Yeojin fearfully glanced at her. 

They stopped behind Chaewon who stood silently in front of the closed club room door. The muffled singing coming from Jiwoo could be heard. She let out a long sigh before opening it. 

Hyunjin was the first to turn to look at them, the smile on her lips disappearing at their sight. She scrunched her brows and tilted her head. 

Jiwoo swirled around in her chair happily but abruptly stopped at seeing the three girls at the door. 

“Chae?” Jiwoo all but whispered, she shot up off the chair. “What’s wrong?!” 

At Jiwoo’s squeal, Jungeun looked up from her desk, her laptop forgotten. 

Hyejoo and Yeojin’s eyes widened at the sudden trembling coming from Chaewon. 

Tears were rolling down Chaewon’s face and she quickly covered her eyes in embarrassment. Jiwoo ran at her, wrapping strong arms around the shorter girl. She had no idea what happened, they had only sent her to get lunch. 

“Why is she crying?” Jungeun worriedly asked. She stood up to make her way to them. In the two years she had known Chaewon she had never seen her cry. The crybabies in the club had always been Jiwoo and Jungeun. 

Hyunjin blinked several times before slowly standing and walking over to them. Instead of consoling Chaewon, she brought in Hyejoo and Yeojin. Making sure there was enough room to comfortably close the door behind them. 

“What happened?” She finally asked the younger girls, her arms crossing against her chest. It was suspicious that Chaewon had gone to grab lunch but only returned with their new members. 

Yeojin turned to Hyejoo, she had never been good when being pressured like this. Her mind was running a thousand thoughts a minute. She couldn’t believe her dream of having sisterly bonds in a club would end so soon. 

Hyejoo’s eyes hadn’t left Chaewon though, her hands were sweaty and she felt like disappearing. She had never meant to make Chaewon cry. She deserved to be kicked out. 

“What happened?” Hyunjin said more forcefully to get Hyejoo’s attention. 

Hyejoo’s eyes snapped to Hyunjin’s dark stare. Goosebumps popped up around her arms and she held back a shudder.

“I...I don’t know,” Hyejoo lamely said. She looked back to Chaewon who was now wiping away the tears in her eyes with the help of Jiwoo. 

“Yeojin?” Jungeun asked from where she was standing, petting Chaewon’s head. 

Yeojin glanced one more time at Hyejoo before looking at Hyunjin. All her seniors were scary. 

“We were just hanging out at the bleachers when...uh…” Yeojin squirmed in her spot. Why did she feel like she was ratting out Hyejoo. 

“The secretary and treasurer came over,” Yeojin continued nervously. 

“What?” Jungeun interrupted, moving away from Chaewon and closer to the new members. 

“Uh the secretary and treasurer of student council..ca-“ she started again before Jungeun was practically an inch away from her. 

“Why?!” Jungeun yelled out. 

Hyejoo snapped her head to the left and stared at Yeojin with a wide eyed gaze. Those were student council members? How was she supposed to know what they looked like, she thought. Jungeun looked like she was about to pounce, startling Hyejoo to move. 

“They came to talk to me.” Hyejoo said, her hand reaching out to pull Yeojin away. Yeojin stumbled until she was peeking at Jungeun from behind Hyejoo’s back. 

“What did they want?” Hyunjin asked looking back to see Chaewon had stopped crying. Her cheeks were red and her eyes had gotten puffy. 

“I’m not really sure. They asked me about my friend, and then...I guess we got in an argument,” Hyejoo meekly said. 

Jungeun slapped her hand to her eyes and groaned. Their club was done for, their new member had just put a bigger target on their backs. 

Hyunjin lips curled up before she laughed loudly, Hyejoo shared a shocked look with Yeojin. 

“I didn’t know who they were. I’m new here, how was I supposed to know?” Hyejoo weakly excused herself. She could feel her face burning with shame. 

“Are you kidding me!?” Jungeun bellowed out, Hyunjin held her ear. 

“You should know who the student council members are! You’re literally attached at the hip to one! How could you not know??” Jungeun continued allowing her anger to completely flow out. 

“Wait but, if it was Hyejoo’s fight, why are you crying Chae?” Jiwoo asked with a pout interrupting Jungeun’s yelling. She hated seeing her friends sad, her eyes had watered just at Chaewon’s pained expression.

Chaewon sighed and avoided Hyejoo’s pathetic stare. “I’ve never been more...disappointed.” It was the first time she had ever had to put her hands on someone before. She felt guilty and it angered her, she wasn’t in the wrong. 

Hyejoo gulped at that, her heart felt heavy and she couldn’t tell why it was bothering her so much. She had only met Chaewon twice before. Was it her weakness to pretty girls? 

“That was really selfish of you, you represent our club. Those people you were picking a fight with could close us down if they wanted. You’re lucky they didn’t make it into a bigger deal. If I hadn’t apologized for you, who knows what would’ve happened,” Chaewon scolded. It made Hyejoo feel small, and she chewed on her lip.

“Chaewon’s right, you can’t fight people, while you’re a member of our club. Thanks to you we’ll have to formally apologize. It’s the only way to make sure they don’t axe us,” Jungeun hissed while rubbing at her temples. She couldn’t believe how many idiots were in her club. 

“But!” Hyejoo pleaded. 

“No buts! We’re all going.” Jungeun said, clamping her hands down on Hyejoo’s shoulder. She made sure to give Yeojin a determined stare as well. The younger girl stiffened behind Hyejoo and quickly nodded.

Hyunjin groaned and glared at Hyejoo, “thanks a lot,” she muttered, sulking back to her chair. She hated coming in contact with the student council. 

“Whaaat! Why do we all have to go? Hyejoo was the one picking fights,” Jiwoo whined, stomping her foot down. 

Jungeun whirled around to glare at Jiwoo. “Because! She’s our new member, we need to show that we’re taking responsibility for this shit show.”

Catching Chaewon’s pout, Jungeun loosened up a bit. “I’m sorry Chae, but I need you. I don’t think I’ll be able to survive if it’s just those two clowns,” she said pointing to the scowling duo. 

Chaewon frowned but nodded anyways. 

“We’ll go after school. Don’t even think about skipping out on it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chaewon’s crying face hadn’t left her mind the entire day. Hyejoo had sat impatiently through each class, her leg bouncing nervously. When she received a “we need to talk,” text from Yerim, she didn’t bat an eyelash. She started to type an “ok,” before the bell rang and she jolted up. She locked the screen without sending the text as she burst out of the room. 

Hyejoo had to hurry back to the club room, she went up the stairs two steps at a time. Feeling her lungs burn with the sudden exertion. Running down the hall she slowed her pace when she saw Chaewon standing outside the door. She was staring at the window, the breeze blowing the tree leaves around. Hyejoo gulped and took an uncertain step forward. 

“You know you’re gonna have to make it up to her right?” Hyunjin said, placing a hand on Hyejoo’s shoulder. Hyejoo jumped and turned to meet Hyunjin’s knowing smile. 

“She literally never cries, she must’ve been really mad.” Hyunjin whispered. 

“What should I do?” Hyejoo asked sincerely, she glanced back at Chaewon who hadn’t noticed them yet. 

Hyunjin shrugged her shoulders, “well she has a thing for your fr-“

“Hyunjin!” Jungeun interrupted looking at the girl with a frown. Hyunjin simply shrugged a smirk on her lips as she pushed forward. 

“What was she going to say?” Hyejoo asked, turning to Jungeun, eyebrows knitted. 

Jungeun sighed and scratched at her head. These kids were such a pain in her ass. “Don’t worry about it. Are you ready to go apologize?” 

Hyejoo nodded, her focus falling back on the small blonde. What was Hyunjin about to say?

They waited for five more minutes before Jiwoo and Yeojin arrived. Their fingers were clasped together and they were cheerfully talking. Chaewon had avoided any glances Hyejoo gave her. 

“Took you two long enough,” Jungeun grumbled, deciding that it was time to go meet their doom.

“Yeojin is all the way on the first floor! It takes her a while to go up the stairs with her short legs you know?” Jiwoo teased, swinging their clasped hands. They had actually run into each other in the bathroom. 

The other girls had involuntarily paired up on their way to the student council room. It created an awkward situation for Chaewon and Hyejoo who walked slowly side by side. 

“Hey,” Hyejoo finally said, glancing over at Chaewon who didn’t turn to look at her. 

They were quickly nearing the student council club room. It was her last chance to make this whole mess better before anything else could happen. 

“Hmm?” Chaewon replied, frowning when she made the mistake of talking to Hyejoo. 

“I just wanted to say-“ Hyejoo started but was cut off  
when Jiwoo grumbled. 

“We’re here”

With the soft knock of Jungeun’s knuckles they waited outside the club room door. 

The door flew open to show a surprised Haseul, her head tilted to side cutely. 

“Ah, Jungeun,” She said quietly, a smile breaking out on her face. “What do we owe the honor to?”

Jungeun stopped the scoff from leaving her lips before she pulled at her sleeves. “There was an incident earlier,” she said, turning back to look at Hyejoo. 

Haseul stepped on her tippy toes to look behind the taller girls. Her eyes finally landed on Hyejoo and her smile grew even more. “Oh I see, I heard something about that.” 

She sighed, her feet dropping back down, flat against the floor, “well, come on in, everyone but Heejin is here.” 

The mention of the girl's absence relaxed Hyunjin. She heard Jiwoo giggle behind her. 

Jungeun grunted out a “thanks” as they filed through and into the student council club room. The anger in her stomach was slowly bubbling. Most of the girls here pissed her off. 

When Haseul closed the door behind them she walked back to the front. There was a half circle in the middle of the room that was created with desks. Hyejoo scowled when her eyes landed on the pair from earlier. Sooyoung was twirling hair in her hand and Jinsoul was flipping through a magazine. 

“Why are you here?” it was harsh and cut through the quiet atmosphere. 

Hyejoo’s eyes snapped to the familiar voice, Yerim was staring, no glaring, at her. 

Chaewon looked between them, a blank mask hiding her thoughts. Jungeun cleared her throat as her hand scratched at her neck anxiously. 

“We wanted to formally apologize,” Jungeun said, staring at the two girls that looked bored. The pop of Sooyoung’s gum made Jungeun grit her teeth. 

Kahei stood from where she had been looking over documents. “You really don’t need to, it was just a simple misunderstanding.” When she spoke all eyes were on her. “Isn’t that right Sooyoung and Jinsoul?” It sounded like a threat if Jungeun had ever heard one. 

Jinsoul put her magazine down and nodded. Sooyoung crossed her arms before sighing and nodding. They had actually gotten in a lot of trouble once word got around to the president. Some students had recorded their interactions, and there was no denying that it looked like they wanted to fight. 

“I appreciate you coming here but there’s really no need.” Kahei said walking over to stand between Sooyoung and Jinsoul. She placed a tight grip on each girl’s shoulder. 

“In fact I think you girls should apologize for making Jungeun and her club come all the way over here.” Kahei said, tightening her grip on them. 

“Of course!” They spoke in unison, like robots. 

Jinsoul bowed her head a soft and deep, “I’m sorry,” escaping her lips. 

Sooyoung was a bit more stubborn, chewing on her lip angrily. 

“Sooyoung,” Haseul warned with a tight lipped smile. 

Bowing her head she grunted out, “Sorry.” 

Jungeun was grinning at the sight, those two always got off on their power over the school. It was fun to see them be put in their place for once. Maybe she wouldn’t punish Hyejoo so harshly after all. Remembering why they were there, she turned and signaled Hyejoo over. The girl took shaky steps forward, her eyes locked with Yerim. 

“Apologize too,” Jungeun whispered. When Hyejoo didn’t move Jungeun reached up and grabbed her collar from behind. 

“I’m sorry for the way I acted earlier. I didn’t mean to disrespect any of you. I’ll be more careful from now on,” She said loudly, surprising everyone in the room. Jungeun’s hand slipped right off her collar. 

When Hyejoo came up from the bow she turned to look at Chaewon. The smaller girl scrunched her brows together in confusion. 

“G-good,” Jungeun said, licking her dry lips. She noticed the weird tension in the air almost immediately. 

“Thank you and now that we have you though, it would be nice if we could get you to sign off on some documents,” Kahei said signaling for Haseul to bring her a stack of papers. She would never give up a chance to make her work easier. 

“Oh well um,” Jungeun started knowing they couldn’t escape them. 

Yerim had come over with angry stomps to grab at Hyejoo’s hand. She pulled Hyejoo out of her trance with Chaewon. “I want to talk,” she said, not waiting for a response. She pushed past the other members and walked out the door with a confused Hyejoo in tow. 

When they were far enough not to be eavesdropped on, Yerim swirled around. She stabbed a finger into Hyejoo’s shoulder aggressively. 

“Ow!” Hyejoo cried out, slapping the girl's finger out of the way. 

“What did you think you were doing?! Do you know how horrible it felt to see that video?” Yerim fumed. 

Hyejoo rubbed at her shoulder, “what video?” she groaned. She had absolutely no idea why Yerim was so mad. It was almost as bad as that one time in middle school. They didn’t talk for two weeks. 

Yerim pulled out her phone and shoved it into Hyejoo’s hand. A bad quality recording of Hyejoo and Jinsoul inches from going at it was staring back at her. She winced and turned it away. 

“That’s my club member Hyejoo, my friend! Do you know how bad it feels to know two important people in your life don’t like each other? I couldn’t even concentrate the whole day after this was sent to me.” Yerim had snatched her phone back, she blinked back tears. 

“Hey!” Hyejoo yelled out at Yerim’s crying. “You’re seriously going to cry too?! I’m sorry, seriously it was a big misunderstanding. Like your boss said, so stop!” Hyejoo said, holding Yerim’s cheeks in her hands. She was squishing them hard in an effort to stop the crying. 

Yerim sniffed a couple of times, bringing the back of her hand to rub at her nose. She knew how uncomfortable crying made Hyejoo.

“I’m sorry,” Hyejoo quietly said, she couldn’t believe she was making another girl cry. 

“Don’t be a jerk anymore!” Yerim grunted out pushing Hyejoo away. 

“I won’t,” Hyejoo answered honestly, she didn’t want to make anyone else cry. 

“They’re really good girls. I really like them a lot, you know. So please, get along from now on,” Yerim said, putting her pinky up for Hyejoo to hold. 

Hyejoo sighed, “okay, I pinky swear,” she huffed out. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yerim had promised to wait for her by the school gates. Hyejoo had teasingly told her to count to one thousand while she picked her things up from the club room. The newspaper club walked in a pack back and when they got there Jungeun was the first to say goodbye. She had mumbled something about catching a show.

When Jiwoo and Hyunjin started to make their way out they glanced back at Chaewon expectedly. Chaewon was silently standing over her bag deep in thought. 

“You coming Chae?” Jiwoo called out, Hyunjin had agreed to get a bite with her. 

Chaewon shook her head in response, her back turned to them. 

Yeojin pulled on her backpack with a frown as she glanced over at Hyejoo. Hyejoo was avoiding their eyes. 

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Hyunjin whispered, staring at Hyejoo. She signaled the other girls to follow her out the door. Hyejoo thanked Hyunjin for being able to read a room.

When the door finally clicked closed Chaewon looked up. Noticing they were the only ones left in the room she swung her bag over her shoulder to make an escape. Hyejoo bit her lip and reached a hand out to stop Chaewon from leaving. 

The smaller girl went stiff at the touch, her head slowly turning to look at Hyejoo’s hand. They would’ve been able to hear a pin drop. 

“I wanted to apologize, and make it up to you,” Hyejoo whispered. She could tell that her own hand was trembling at the contact. Her heart was beating loudly in her ears. 

Chaewon didn’t say anything in response, instead she just stared at her captured wrist. 

“I meant what I said in the student council room. I didn’t mean to disrespect you. And I’ll try my hardest to never make you feel that way again. So please tell me how I can make it up to you!” Hyejoo rambled out, letting go of Chaewon’s wrist. She bowed her head down, ready for the smaller girl to hit her if that’s what she wanted. 

“Are you and Yerim dating?” Chaewon whispered. 

990

“Huh?” Hyejoo sputtered out, her head snapping up in surprise. 

Chaewon’s face was as red as a tomato and she was visibly shaking again. 

“Are you an-“ Chaewon started again, her voice shaking with the pressure her heart was under. 

“NO!” Hyejoo yelled out. She was up on her feet and wide eyed. No one had ever asked her that, no one cared about who she was dating. Her body had run cold, did they look like a couple to other people? Could people tell that she...wasn’t normal?

995

“Then...I want you to help me get closer to her,” Chaewon muttered. She was extremely embarrassed for stooping so low. But, she didn’t see any other way around it. Soon Chaewon would be a senior and then she would graduate. She’d never see Yerim again and the idea of never revealing her feelings made her want to vomit.

“W-what?” Hyejoo breathed out, this had to be some sort of dream. With a pinch to her bicep she gave an empty chuckle. This was definitely a nightmare. 

1000

Yerim looked up at the floor she knew Hyejoo’s club was on with a pout.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> That was wild wasn’t it? Who do you think would win in a fight between Jinsoul and Hyejoo? 
> 
> (my money is on punchivia)
> 
> We’ve also finally been introduced to the student council and idunno about y’all but something seems fishy! They kinda sound like they’re out here bullying people don’t they? lol
> 
> N E WAYS! the feedback you all give me, pushes me to keep writing this! Like always I want to hear from you lovely people! So if you liked this little story go ahead and leave a comment or Kudos, anything is greatly appreciated!
> 
> ps I literally have no clue why my first author note keeps traveling with the new updates. Sorry y’all! i’ll try to get more tech savvy. ❤️


	4. The Clash

The air between them was thick and suffocating. Hyejoo took a step back bumping into the chair she was sitting in previously. Her school coat that had been draped across the back collapsed with the movement. Chaewon’s wide and unblinking eyes scanned the taller girl's face before she spun away. The sudden weight of her words to Hyejoo fell heavy on her shoulders. 

“That...was a...I was,” Chaewon fumbled, as she brought her hand up to rub at her eyes. Why did she feel like crying again? She hadn’t even considered that Hyejoo might think she was weird. What if she was really against that sort of thing? Chaewon had no idea how she would explain their new club member quitting so abruptly to Jungeun.

Hyejoo stared at Chaewon’s trembling frame, she looked extra tiny. This was not going the way she had planned. She had just wanted to leave a good impression on the older girl.

Hyejoo bit her lip as she reached a hand out, her fingers inches away from blonde hair. For a brief second she wondered how soft it’d be between her fingertips.

Chaewon had gone rigid, the hair on the back of her neck stood up. She could feel that Hyejoo had gotten close. A strong sense of danger replaced the burning embarrassment from moments before. Spinning around once more, she was faced with Hyejoo’s large hand. She let out a surprised gasp, her eyes wide with fear. 

Chaewon’s mind began to race, was Hyejoo going to hurt her? Did she feel that disgusted about girls being together? Her instinct was to run for the door, but she knew the taller girl could get to her first. 

Seeing the fear in Chaewon’s eyes, Hyejoo snapped her hand back to her side. The room felt even smaller than before. Heat started crawling up Hyejoo’s neck and she squeezed her eyes shut to recover. She just needed to count to ten, she’d be fine after. 

The jingle of the door knob snapped Hyejoo’s eyes open. Facing empty space she turned her head to the door just in time to catch a glimpse of Chaewon’s blonde hair. 

“Huh,” Hyejoo breathed out stupidly. She frantically scanned the room before realizing Chaewon had indeed run out. She listened to the hurried steps as she clenched her fist. Why was Chaewon making it so hard for her? With a roll of her eyes she let out a groan and headed to the door.

Chaewon was a coward, she couldn’t believe she was actually running away. When she saw Hyejoo close her dark eyes, her body lurched forward on its own accord. The further her short legs took her down the hallway the more at ease she felt. If she could make it to the stairs, she’d be in the…

Heavy footsteps alerted Chaewon to the incoming danger. She threw a glance over her shoulder just in time to see Hyejoo an arm's length behind her. It reminded her of when they first met. The taller girl looked like a predator about to catch her prey. Chaewon let out a high pitched scream as she instinctively planted her feet and curled inward towards her bag. 

Hyejoo was too close to come to a stop, instead her large body rammed into Chaewon’s. They fell forward with a thud, skidding across the floor. 

Hyejoo had wrapped her arms around Chaewon’s smaller frame for some sort of support. The majority of the impact was focused on Hyejoo’s left side. She gritted her teeth at the sting of the floor burn. Looking down into her arms, her nose bumped Chaewon’s head. The scent of lavender shampoo invaded her nostrils. 

Hyejoo deeply breathed in before letting out a hot sigh onto Chaewon’s blonde scalp. She wanted whatever this was to be over with. It felt like too much effort and Hyejoo was spiraling towards an empty tank. The smaller girl squirmed at the heat and Hyejoo released her hold with a frown. 

Chaewon surprisingly rolled out of her grasp until she was on her side, facing Hyejoo. Her bag lay crumbled between them. If Hyejoo didn’t feel so sore she would’ve laughed at the scene. Who did something like that?

“I’m sorry,” Chaewon whispered with a lick of her lips. She weakly held Hyejoo’s stare and her voice trembled. 

Hyejoo’s frown deepened. It was clear Chaewon was scared of her. Usually that’d be something she would welcome, but she didn’t like it this time. It felt wrong and she didn’t know what she could do to change it. 

“You probably think I’m some weirdo, right? Please if you can just forget what I said earlier. I understand if you want to leave the club. I’ll tell Jungeun for you, don’t worry,” Chaewon rambled. She averted her gaze to stare at a speck on the floor with great interest. Anything was better than being met with Hyejoo’s fierce eyes. She briefly considered making a run for it again. 

“I don’t think you’re a weirdo,” Hyejoo softly said, watching the same speck. Maybe it had some answers to this whole mess. She had never chased someone like this before. It was embarrassing being so close while laying down. If this was a different situation she wondered what it’d be like, to have someone like Chaewon lay beside her. The thought caused a blush to burn across her cheeks. She pushed the idea down at the shame that grew in the pit of her belly. 

It was Chaewon’s turn to frown, “you don’t have to pretend to be nice to me. I’m disgusting to you, that’s why you looked so uncomfortable back there, isn’t it?”

Hyejoo’s finger had shyly come up to circle the speck, “I’m not disgusted,” she said blankly. She was finding it hard to look Chaewon in the eyes. 

With anger bubbling in Chaewon’s gut she quickly sat up. She glared down at Hyejoo, “then why did you back away so hard? If you have something to say, just say it to my face.” 

Chaewon was used to these games, she had transferred schools because of this. She wouldn’t allow it to happen for a second time. Even though she was scared of what the taller girl could do, she didn’t want to be a victim again. 

Hyejoo’s finger pressed down onto the speck trying to squeeze out an answer. When she heard nothing but the breeze outside she sighed. 

The scoff that came out from the blonde drew Hyejoo’s gaze. She really hated pretty girls like Chaewon. They thought they could behave however they wanted, without a care in the world. The next words that slipped out of her mouth were by accident. Or at least that’s what she would tell herself when she thought about it later. But for now, she was tired, the day was long and Chaewon was pretty. 

“I like girls too,” Hyejoo said, burning the blonde's confused face into her mind. It would be the face she would recall in the future whenever she spoke about the first time she came out to someone. 

“But,” Chaewon said, her eyebrows tightly knitted together. “You said that you weren’t dati-“

“We aren’t. I mean.” Hyejoo interrupted, slowly sitting up. The sting on her elbow caused her to wince in pain. If she had looked down at it she would’ve noticed the trail of angry red skin up her arm.

“She’s my best friend. We grew up together and we live in the same apartment complex. We’re close but we’re not…” she shyly mumbled. She hated that she felt the need to explain herself. If this was anyone else she would’ve walked away. She would’ve laughed in their face and probably flipped them off. Yet, she was sitting down explaining the situation and sharing a secret. It made her stomach turn. 

Chaewon narrowed her eyes after a second, “but you want to?”

Hyejoo looked up like a deer caught in the headlights, “no! No, I’ve never even...I wouldn’t. No.” 

Chaewon stared at her oddly, like she knew something Hyejoo didn’t. “Does she know?” She asked, resting her throbbing head in her palm. 

“What? Does she know what?” Hyejoo snapped back, her jagged defenses coming up. Fear was beginning to claw its way through her body. She didn’t want this to be about them. 

Chaewon hummed knowingly at that, her sudden piercing eyes scanning the taller girl's face. 

“She doesn’t know you like girls then,” she answered for the both of them. She placed a sweaty hand over Hyejoo’s. 

It took all Hyejoo had in her not to snatch her hand away, the burning sensation of pity was overpowering. She had made a mistake. She thought this would help Chaewon feel less afraid. But it suddenly felt like she had carelessly run right into Chaewon’s web. 

“Do you want my help or not?” She gritted out, staring down at Chaewon’s thin fingers. It was all she could think of to change the subject. To ease the pressure she felt in her heart. 

When there was no response Hyejoo looked up to see if Chaewon had heard her. Chaewon’s lips were parted in surprise. Her eyes were wide and sparkling. Something about that look caused a knot in Hyejoo’s stomach to form. 

“Seriously?” Chaewon asked, moving her hand to the floor to steady herself. Her eager body betrayed her quiet tone. She had almost forgotten the question she had asked the taller girl. It wasn’t every day that someone revealed their sexuality to her. 

Hyejoo’s gaze flickered back down to her lonely hand before she nodded. 

“You’re not joking with me right?” Chaewon’s voice squeaked, there was a faint threat laced in. Her blush was out in full force again. 

“I told you I want to make it up to you,” Hyejoo bluntly said. She tensed at the harshness of her own voice, but relaxed when it seemed to go over Chaewon’s head. 

Chaewon for the first time since they met, truly smiled at her. It was warm and sweet, Hyejoo gulped and averted her eyes. The only person that looked at her like that was…

“Yerim!” Hyejoo screamed out, surprising Chaewon. The blonde's hand flew to her chest as she watched Hyejoo frantically stand. Her head snapped to both sides of the hallway, empty. She frowned and turned back towards the windows. They were on the fourth floor. 

“Shit! I have to go!” Hyejoo yelled, rushing to the stairwell. “Sorry!!” 

She had completely forgotten that the other girl was waiting for her. 

“What about your bag!?” Chaewon yelled back, her hand pointing to the club room door. The atmosphere had gone back to normal like a flip of a switch. They were just two girls from the same club. 

Hyejoo scowled, she felt heat crawl up her neck. She nodded her head as she ran past Chaewon and back to the club room. Quickly she slipped her bag on and ran back out, slamming the door shut. She had expected Chaewon to have gotten up, but the smaller girl was still sitting on the floor. She was glancing out the window again, the sun had started to set. 

Hyejoo ran back to stand in front of Chaewon before she scooped her up with ease. She felt a little guilty for knocking her down. Chaewon let out another scream as she felt Hyejoo’s fingers dig deep into her armpits to bring her up. When they slipped out she quickly replaced them with her own. She whined, rubbing at the dull pain. Hyejoo snapped back down to grab Chaewon’s bag before placing it haphazardly on her. 

“I have to go now. Get home safe,” Hyejoo awkwardly ordered, turning to leave. She winced when she heard the light chuckle escape plump lips. 

“Okay,” Chaewon whispered long after Hyejoo stomped her way down the stairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yerim was crouched down by the school gate. She gnawed at her lip worriedly. Maybe something had happened to Hyejoo. She looked down at the unanswered texts she had sent the taller girl. With a sigh she decided to give it a couple of more minutes. 

“Yerim!” The familiar screech made her look up. Hyejoo was barreling down the school hill right towards her. With a yelp she jumped up, opening her arms wide to catch her friend. They collided and stumbled back a few feet, Yerim groaned at the force. 

Hyejoo was breathing heavy, “are you crazy!?” She huffed out into Yerim’s ear. It was warm against her lips and she pulled back to catch Yerim’s smile. She would have broken her skull open if they fell. 

Yerim broke out in giggles as she pulled Hyejoo closer to her. Snuggling deep into the crook of the taller girl's neck. 

“That hurt,” Yerim softly said, squeezing Hyejoo tightly. The taller girl groaned, feeling the multiple bruises of the day all ache at once. “But I deserve it. I thought you were mad at me.”

Hyejoo looked up at the stars beginning to twinkle in the purple sky. The breeze was no longer calming, instead it caused a shiver to run down her spine. She cursed herself for leaving her coat on the ground in her rush to leave. 

“Why would I be mad at you?” She gently asked, trying to look at Yerim. The girl just snuggled in closer, Hyejoo could feel soft lips move against her neck. 

“The way I spoke to you earlier. It probably felt like I was taking their side, right?” Yerim shyly asked. The faces of her two club members pouting were clear in her mind. They had cornered her, and pleaded for forgiveness. It would have been funny if she still wasn’t upset with them. 

Oh. That, Hyejoo hummed, she had completely forgotten about the student council. 

“It’s fine,” Hyejoo shrugged under Yerim’s tight grip on her. It was finally the weekend and she didn’t want to think about them anymore. 

Yerim shook her head and Hyejoo squirmed at the movement. She had always been really ticklish. 

“It’s not. I got mad at Jinsoul and Sooyoung too. It’s just, they treat me like a little sister. They didn’t mean any harm. They were just being annoying. They were curious about you for some reason.” Yerim rambled pulling away to look at Hyejoo. She wanted the taller girl to know she was being sincere. 

“I know you easily make up your mind about people. I just didn’t want you to get the wrong idea of them so quickly,” she finished slightly shaking Hyejoo, like it would help get the information through. 

Hyejoo chuckled, it was true. She had already decided to dislike Jinsoul and Sooyoung. But, Yerim had made her promise to be nice, so she would at least pretend to. 

“You’re right. But don’t worry about it, seriously. It’s already forgotten,” Hyejoo said, waving her hand to dismiss the thought.

In the corner of her eye she noticed a blonde head walk by. Her smile dropped away as the memory of all the words said in the hallway flooded her. Her legs felt heavy and she pulled herself from Yerim’s grip. Hyejoo’s mouth had gone dry and her heart pulsed faster. 

Yerim frowned at the loss of contact, “why do you look as pale as a ghost. What’s wrong?”

Hyejoo shook her head as her eyes watched the blonde cross the street outside of the gates. It was definitely Chaewon. 

“Nothing...I’m just tired.” Hyejoo breathed out, licking at her lips.

Yerim turned her head to the street right outside, it was alive with students heading to eat or drink coffee with friends. Not seeing what Hyejoo saw, she turned back to her. She watched Hyejoo clench her jaw and turn back to meet her gaze. Yerim pursed her lips before replacing it with a forced smile. 

“Well let’s hurry back home then. My dad said he was going to make something so delicious, that I’d cry! You’re invited of course!” Yerim chirped at her, waving her arms around excitedly. 

“I actually have something at home that my mom left me. She’d be pretty mad if I didn’t eat it,” Hyejoo lamely replied, grabbing ahold of the straps of her backpack. Her smile couldn’t reach her eyes, so she looked away. She knew Yerim could read her like a book if she focused hard enough. 

Yerim’s smile faltered for a second. Nodding her head, she linked their arms and tugged Hyejoo to the bus stop. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they finally got back home, Yerim asked her two more times to eat dinner with her family. She pouted and gave her best puppy eyes. That usually worked, but Hyejoo simply sighed. 

“I can’t,” Hyejoo almost chanted, peeling Yerim away. She didn’t wait to be persuaded at the door by Yerim’s smiling dad either. She knew if she looked back the smaller girl could’ve made her stay. Yerim could make her do anything really. It was her second weakness. So instead, she marched her way up to her apartment, opened the door to silence and slipped in. 

Taking her shoes off at the doorway and dropping her bag she walked to the kitchen in socks. She opened her practically empty fridge to pull out a water bottle and sighed. She placed the cool bottle to her head and closed the door behind her. 

Her mother hadn’t left her any food. She just couldn’t handle being with Yerim at the moment. Her heart was beating fast. She had finally come out to someone, and it felt horrifying. Chaewon hadn’t given her a big reaction. That was disappointing but also nerve racking. She felt like she had just given a complete stranger all the ammunition she needed to end her life. 

Hyejoo’s eyes widened as the thought of Chaewon having a hold on her. What if Chaewon got mad at her one day? Would she tell Yerim her secret? Would Yerim even want to see her anymore? Everyone would know, her mother would find out. If her mother found out, would she be thrown out from her home like her father? The thoughts were overwhelming and her breathing became shallow. Hyejoo squeezed the bottle tightly in her hand, the deafening crinkle filled the silent kitchen. She needed air. 

Mindlessly Hyejoo walked several blocks away from her apartment. Taking streets she never regularly went down. She wanted to get lost, her mind was running wild with fear. She felt alone and fragile yet anytime someone looked at her she tensed. The idea that strangers could see who she really was made her watch the ground in embarrassment. The honk of a taxi cab didn’t even break her thoughts when she jaywalked. She could take the subway, just ride it until it hit the last line. She could just go, keep going, until she was somewhere no one knew her. 

Standing at the steps of the subway entrance she looked down. She didn’t bring anything with her, she had foolishly left everything on the floor near her backpack at home. Scoffing, Hyejoo rubbed at her watering eyes. She was so stupid. 

The clatter of travelers coming up the steps forced her to turn around and start moving. She was getting lost in the group and she allowed them to guide her direction. It wasn’t until a shove from an impatient businessman trying to get around her did she stumble out. She rubbed at her side angerily as she stood still in front of a GS25. She darkly thought of picking a fight with the man. Anything was better than quietly weathering the storm raging inside of her. The ding of the sliding door made her look up with a glare. 

“Oh,” Jungeun said, looking down at Hyejoo with surprise. She held a juice pack between her teeth and was fiddling with her black plastic bag. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had silently walked side by side, Jungeun glancing at her every now and then. She swung her bag lightly between them. She hadn’t expected to run into someone, especially from the club. When Jungeun saw an empty bench in the neighborhood park they were at she walked to it. Hyejoo followed, flopping down with a heavy sigh. 

Jungeun was reminded of the time Hyunjin had showed up outside her house. It was a little after her knee surgery. She seemed to have a magnetic field for her club members when troubled. 

“Do you want some?” Jungeun asked, offering her half drank juice pack. It was apple flavored and Jungeun had only gone out since her show was paused. 

Hyejoo didn’t meet her eyes and simply shook her head. She could hardly hold back the tremble in her lip. 

Jungeun watched her curiously, putting down the juice between them. She shoved her hands into the pocket of her hoodie and looked down at her black converse. She had made a point to shove her checkered pajama bottoms into her shoes. 

“Is there something you want to talk about?” She quietly prodded. She had never been one to overstep her boundaries. But she couldn’t shake the memory of Hyunjin’s heartbroken face. The way the taller girl had exploded into sobs as soon as Jungeun had gotten in arms length reach. They hadn’t known each other that well at the time either.

Jungeun could see that same kind of pain in Hyejoo’s eyes. 

A small hiccup made Jungeun turn her head in surprise. The dimples in the peak of her brows were prominent as she leaned forward to catch a glimpse of Hyejoo. 

Hyejoo was facing the ground as she squeezed her eyes shut. A strangled cry escaped her lips as her shoulders began to shake. 

Jungeun’s soft touch on her back was the crack in her dam. Tears flooded out as she brought her hand up to cover her eyes. She hated seeing other people cry, but she hated crying in front of others the most. 

“It’s okay. Cry it out, there you go,” Jungeun whispered, rubbing circles into Hyejoo’s hunched over form. 

When Hyejoo gasped for air, Jungeun put her juice pack up to her lips. 

“Here, drink this. You cried a lot, it’ll make you feel better,” Jungeun ordered petting Hyejoo’s head with her free hand. 

Hyejoo sucked down the rest of Jungeun’s drink like she had been dying of thirst. Taking shaky breaths Hyejoo wiped at the last of her tears. Her eyes had puffed and snot was smeared all over her arm. She looked like a complete mess. 

“I don’t know what...I’m sorry,” she mumbled, averting her gaze back to the ground. She dug her shoe into the dirt creating a small indent. 

Jungeun gave a tight lipped smile before shaking her head. 

“If you want to talk about it, I’m a pretty good listener,” Jungeun said, bringing her hand back down to her lap patiently. 

Hyejoo gulped, fiddling with her fingers. 

“I came out to someone today,” she whispered. Her heart was racing. But she oddly felt safe with Jungeun, like the older girl wouldn’t judge her. 

“Did it not go well?” Jungeun asked, placing a reassuring hand on Hyejoo’s shoulder. 

“It...it was okay. I just, I’m scared. I don’t know if I can trust her,” Hyejoo trembled underneath Jungeun’s hold. 

“What makes you think you can’t trust this person?” Jungeun replied, frowning. 

“It’s just, um, it’s Chaewon,” Hyejoo admitted holding her breath. She was worried about Jungeun’s reaction. She didn’t want the older girl to prove her right. 

After a moment of silence, Jungeun straightened up. 

“But Chaewon likes girls doesn’t she?” Jungeun questioned, suddenly feeling doubtful. Had she gotten the wrong impression of Chaewon this whole time? It would be an awkward conversation to have to apologize to her blonde friend for the misunderstanding. She narrowed her eyes the more she thought of it, she’d have to make Jiwoo and Hyunjin apologize too. 

“She wants to be closer to my friend, I’m scared that...she might,” Hyejoo trailed off before groaning in frustration. It sounded stupid, but even her irrational thoughts felt possible. “I’m not ready for everyone to know.”

“Chaewon wouldn’t do that.” Jungeun spoke firmly, turning Hyejoo’s face to look at her.

“She’s a little funny but she’s not like that. She has a big heart and honestly I think she’d be offended to know you think so low of her,” Jungeun said, letting go of Hyejoo’s chin. 

“If you’re not comfortable with this thing you have going on, then tell her no. She’ll understand. But just know that she would never out you to anyone Hyejoo,” Jungeun said, letting out a sigh before scratching at her neck. 

“It’s not my place to say this...but Chaewon had a really traumatic experience in her old high school. Some kids found out, and they made her life a living hell. So, seriously, she wouldn’t do something like that to you,” Jungeun whispered. She had scanned the area just in case the blonde was in earshot. It was insane, but she couldn’t take any chances. After all it was a surprising coincidence that Hyejoo lived so close to her. 

Hyejoo stayed silent, her bottom lip had opened in shock. 

Jungeun smiled at her reaction and brought her hand up to ruffle the taller girl's black hair. 

“You’d be surprised, the newspaper club is full of accepting cool people. Now! Promise me that if this weird thing with Chaewon and your friend makes you uncomfortable you’ll tell her!” Jungeun said, standing up and pointing a finger at Hyejoo. 

Hyejoo shut her mouth and nodded. 

In the end Jungeun had to walk her back half way to her apartment. Hyejoo had actually gotten lost and she wasn’t particularly good with directions. They didn’t talk much except for on the bench, but it was exactly what Hyejoo needed. Jungeun had been able to put everything into perspective for her. 

“If you need anything, call me at this number, okay?” Jungeun had kindly said after sending a text to Hyejoo’s cell at home. 

She smiled as she watched Hyejoo disappear into the night. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hyejoo found herself standing at the door of Yerim’s apartment. With a deep breath she rang the doorbell. The light on the camera shined bright on her and she silently waited for someone to answer. 

It took longer than usual, but the intercom buzzed to life. 

“Hello?” Yerim’s voice came through clearly, she sounded out of breath. 

“Can I come in?” Hyejoo asked looking directly into the camera. She knew Yerim was watching her on the other side of the door. 

The door opened and Yerim stood there in pink pajamas with an assortment of flowers printed all over. She looked worried and she quickly brought Hyejoo in. 

Yerim’s home was lively, things were messier, but only because more people lived there. Hyejoo could faintly hear the tv in the living room. Yerim’s dad must’ve been watching the news. 

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Yerim asked, running her hands over Hyejoo’s cheeks. 

“You look like...you’ve been crying?!” Yerim squeaked, pulling Hyejoo into a hug. Hyejoo chuckled, snaking her hands around Yerim’s small waist. 

“I’m okay now. Do you still have food?” Hyejoo asked, pushing Yerim further into her home. Yerim naturally slipped out of her sandals and walked backwards with Hyejoo. She realized on the walk home she was starving and her fridge was still empty.

“Are you going to tell me why you were crying?” Yerim asked, moving them towards the kitchen. Her dad was sitting down on a black leather couch. He looked up to see their new visitor. 

“If it isn’t Hye!” Yerim’s dad called out happily, his eyes never leaving the tv. “You haven’t been around in awhile!” 

Hyejoo grunted in greeting as Yerim bumped them into the oven. 

“My mom doesn’t know how to cook,” Hyejoo responded to Yerim. “I cried about how bad it was.” 

Yerim scowled at her, “you’re such a liar.” 

Hyejoo sluggishly shrugged as she eyed the pan of food. 

“Is it okay if I sleep over?” Hyejoo whispered, turning to see Yerim’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. 

Yerim searched Hyejoo’s features for a sign of whatever had changed her mood. Coming up empty handed, she sighed and reached for chopsticks to give Hyejoo. 

“Fine, but you better not hog the covers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone~ 
> 
> This chapter was a little annoying to write honestly lol. I kept going back and forth with it because I wanted to get the feelings of regret? shame? panic?? right. I hope it came across correctly! 
> 
> Go ahead and comment or leave a Kudo if you enjoyed this. I love reading what you guys have to say! Any feedback is welcome! 
> 
> ps. I got lazy and didn’t look into how to fix the traveling note. I’ll get her next time for sure;)


	5. Hollow

Hyejoo’s eyes fluttered open at the sound of an iphone alarm blaring loudly before quickly closing. The sun seeping into the room was harsh and Hyejoo’s hand frantically searched for the phone. When she hit something solid her body tensed. She forgot where she was. 

A small groan escaped Yerim’s lips as she rubbed her head. 

Hyejoo grimaced, finally peeking at her surroundings. Yerim was pushed up against her. The amount of room left on the bed made Hyejoo frown. They could’ve had another person comfortably sleep with them.

“Move,” Hyejoo croaked out, the sound of the alarm continuing to ring. She had offered to sleep on the floor last night. But Yerim had quickly rejected the idea with a huff. 

Yerim’s hand reached out and patted around the bed until she touched her vibrating phone. Slapping a sloppy finger to the screen she swiped to the right and shut off the alarm. She angrily pushed her phone off the bed and it fell to the floor with a dense thud. 

“Move. You’re too close,” Hyejoo repeated, groaning at the pressure against her. 

“No I’m not,” Yerim mumbled, her voice low and raspy. She scooted her butt deeper into Hyejoo’s hips. 

Hyejoo groaned again, her body stiffening like a plank. Truthfully her right arm had fallen asleep under Yerim’s pillow. The tingling made her want to squirm, but she bit her lip instead. 

“It’s too hot,” Hyejoo’s voice cracked. Her body felt like it was on fire. It had been awhile since they had last fallen asleep in the same bed. Hyejoo was always too self conscious after she started noticing the way her eyes lingered on girls longer than normal. She cursed herself for being so weak the night before. For craving the sweet sensation of being cared for and the loving touches Yerim gave her. 

Yerim’s body began to shake as she let out sleepy giggles. The movement rattled Hyejoo and she gripped Yerim’s hip to stop her. Yerim’s bare skin was warm and soft under Hyejoo’s palm. 

Yerim squealed at the touch and she thrusted her hip back involuntarily, drawing a sharp breath from Hyejoo. Yerim’s slender fingers clawed at Hyejoo’s hand as she laughed. She was blissfully unaware of the taller girl's quickening heartbeat. 

“Stop moving so much! You’re freaking squishing me!” Hyejoo said through gritted teeth. She was trying to push Yerim away. She wished she could just slip into the crack between Yerim’s bed and the wall. 

Yerim gasped as she pushed back even harder, “are you calling me fat?!” 

Hyejoo’s eyebrows shot up, she would never call her that. She knew Yerim was sensitive about her weight. The girl always complained about her thighs. Hyejoo couldn’t wrap her head around it. Yerim was the prettiest girl she knew and deserved to feel that way. 

Hyejoo whined, “no I would never say that, but you are killing me!” 

Yerim sighed and scooted away, before sitting up to look down at Hyejoo. She eyed the taller girl’s flushed face and smiled. 

“You’re such a crybaby. I’ll take my butt somewhere else!” Yerim playfully huffed. Her hair was a tangled mess and there were still sleep lines on her cheek. 

Hyejoo rolled her eyes as she used the new space to stretch out. She decided she would never ask to sleep over again. It had been pretty nightmarish and Hyejoo could feel the dull ache on her side. Maybe she’d go back to her apartment and sleep some more. She frowned when she remembered her mother. She hadn’t told her she’d be gone. 

“You should do that then, I hardly slept because of you,” Hyejoo sighed, rolling her right wrist. It felt like a bunch of ants were crawling their way up and down her arm. She curled her toes at the annoying sensation, and tried to shake it off. 

Yerim scoffed at that. She got on her knees and quickly brought her hands down hard on either side of Hyejoo’s head. The sound seemed to echo in the small room as she sank deeper into the pillow

“You told me you like being against the wall,” Yerim frowned. She was staring directly into Hyejoo’s wide eyes. She held back the laugh that threatened to show itself. Teasing Hyejoo was the best thing in the world. 

Hyejoo choked on her saliva as she turned her head away in a panic. Yerim pulled back with playful disgust before laughing and patting Hyejoo’s shoulder. 

“Are you okay?” She laughed harder as Hyejoo flipped around in embarrassment to face the pillow. 

A strong sense of shame flooded Hyejoo’s mind at the way her body eagerly tensed. 

“I don’t like being against the wall...you just cling to me too hard when I’m not,” Hyejoo grumbled into Yerim’s pillow. It smelled like the shorter girl and she closed her eyes for a split second to take it in. When she felt Yerim leave the bed she turned to watch her curiously. 

Yerim had pulled her hair up in a ponytail, using her fingers to claw through the tangles. She was happily humming to herself. 

“You can tell me you don’t like it all you want! But I know the truth!” Yerim chirped. She was looking at herself in the mirror. Her fingers pressing down on her puffy face. She had slept too deeply, it was a surprise she hadn’t drooled all over the pillow. “You love it.”

When Yerim caught Hyejoo’s dark almost hungry stare through the reflection, her smile slowly dropped. She turned around only to notice the weird tension in the air. It felt suffocating and somehow desperate, Yerim’s heartbeat quickened. 

“Do you want to shower first or should I?” The shorter girl broke the silence, feeling uneasy. It was the one thing she couldn’t stand. 

Hyejoo blinked a couple of times. She had been lost in thought. Ideas of a future that felt too distant and out of reach. She couldn’t imagine a domestic life with someone. A blank face filled her mind and it only brought dread. 

“I should probably go home,” she slowly answered sitting up in bed. Yerim pouted at that and moved to sit next to her. They were wearing matching pajamas but Hyejoo’s was much tighter. 

“But I wanted to hang out,” Yerim said, snaking her arm around Hyejoo’s. She didn’t like that they hadn’t talked about what happened last night. She could still see the sadness in Hyejoo’s eyes. She just wanted to make her feel better, whatever she needed, she’d do it. 

Hyejoo stared at their reflection across from the bed with a frown. She wondered if this was how it would look. To wake up with someone she loved and go about the day together. She clenched her fists and pushed the thought down. 

“Come on! Pleaseeeeee!” Yerim begged, shaking Hyejoo around. She always needed to be persistent with the taller girl. It was the only way to get what she wanted. 

Hyejoo rolled her eyes. She watched her reflection as she squeezed Yerim’s hand tightly in response. The shorter girl let out a yelp as she tried to free herself. Hyejoo smirked at her pained reaction, fully satisfied. Picking on Yerim was the only way to get her mind off the scarier reality she faced. 

“Fine. But I need to go home either way, your clothes are too tight on me.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Hyejoo opened the door to her home, she noticed it was just as quiet as the night before. Her bag wasn’t on the floor and that was the only sign that her mother had been there. She carefully walked through the doorway to an empty kitchen and living room. If she didn’t live there she would’ve thought it was an apartment on display.

Sighing, she hesitantly knocked on her mother's door. When there was no answer she made her way to her room. As soon as she opened the door she noticed her bag on her bed. Slowly walking up to it she saw her phone placed beside it and a note underneath. 

“Please don’t leave your things in the hallway,” Hyejoo whispered, reading the note over. Her mother’s handwriting was precise and cold. It sent a shiver down her spine. 

She crumbled the note up and tossed it at the overflowing trash can. She didn’t know what she was expecting from the woman, but it wasn’t that. She sighed, breathing deeply. If she thought too hard about it the sting in her eyes would return. 

Picking her phone up she was surprised to see all the notifications. She had a couple of messages from different unregistered numbers. One she was able to immediately recognize as Jungeun’s. 

“This is Jungeun”  
“Let me know when you get home”  
“Hello?”  
“Call me if you need to talk”

Hyejoo sighed feeling bad for worrying the older girl. She would have to make it up to her somehow, maybe with food. Tapping on the next unknown numbers message she frowned. 

“Jiwoo gave me your number. It’s Chaewon.”  
“You forgot your coat.”   
“I can drop it off if you want.”

Rubbing at her face she made her way into the small shared bathroom. She dropped her phone down onto the white sink counter and began to undress. She sadly stared at her reflection. She didn’t recognize the girl staring back. She wondered how she could feel so hollow. 

Looking down at her arm she noticed the green and purple bruising. She ran the tip of her finger over it before pressing down lightly. She anticipated it but winced either way at the small jolt of pain. Looking at her fingertip she half expected to see the spec on the floor from the hallway. The spec that had held no answers but still called out to her. Chaewon’s blushing face flashed before her eyes and she physically shook the memory away. 

Sighing, she made her way to the shower and quickly turned the silver knob to the left with a creak. She glanced over to the counter before picking her phone back up. The water always took a couple of seconds to heat and she needed the distraction.

“Hiiiiiiii Hyejoo!”  
“I gave Chae your number! I hope you don’t mind!”   
“She said she needed to talk to you! :^D”  
“Please don’t fight anymore! Or you two will make me sad!! T-T”

Hyejoo hummed as she played the scenario in her mind. Was Chaewon the type to just demand what she wanted? Take and take until there was nothing left to have? Or had she gone about it in an elaborate way to not cause any suspicion of their agreement? Did she sweetly talk her way through things, using her pretty features to cover her desires? 

The sour taste had reappeared in Hyejoo’s mouth. The blonde made her heartbeat race and she was certain it was for all the wrong reasons. Her palms felt sweaty and she held back a groan. She just wanted to wash away all the stress she had been feeling. 

Unsurprisingly, the rest of her messages belonged to Yerim. She put her phone back down and made her way to the shower, slipping the last of her clothes off. She licked her lips. No one would be able to tell if the water that streamed down her face belonged to the shower head or not. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yerim had excitedly dragged Hyejoo to the IFC Mall with promises to buy her something for coming along. Hyejoo had waived the idea away. She didn’t want to be bought, she found comfort in Yerim’s company. That was already good enough. 

“Come onnn you’re walking so slow, seriously!” Yerim huffed, yanking on Hyejoo’s arm. She was wearing one of her oversized blazers and a white top with khaki pants. Yerim was secretly charmed with how fashionable Hyejoo tended to be. She had made the mistake of complimenting her once before. Hyejoo smugly brought it up continuously for a week. 

“You’re the one walking too fast. Let’s just stay on the right side,” Hyejoo retorted with a roll of her eyes as they made it to the first of many escalators. Yerim frowned as she stepped on before the taller girl. She couldn’t help that she was a bit of an impatient person. Her body twitched to the left, ready to climb up to get to the end quicker. Hyejoo’s hands steadied themselves naturally around Yerim’s waist to stop her. 

“Relax. We’re almost there,” Hyejoo coolly whispered stepping onto the courtesy step she put between them to close their distance. Yerim deeply sighed and leaned back into Hyejoo’s taller frame. Maybe they should’ve just taken the elevator instead. 

Yerim shyly looked down when she noticed the couple in front of them kiss. Hyejoo squeezed her hips, causing her to turn just enough to see her face. The taller girl pretended to gag and then grinned when Yerim chuckled. 

“Where are we going anyways?” Hyejoo suddenly asked as she dropped her hands when they reached the top. Yerim would be lying if she said she didn’t miss the touch. Stepping off the escalator, she took a hold of Hyejoo’s arm again. 

“I wanted to go into the game store,” Yerim replied, walking them through the crowd of families, friends, and couples. It would be so easy to get lost, she tightened her grip on Hyejoo’s sleeve just in case. 

“I don’t want anything, if that’s why we’re going there,” Hyejoo said, watching the back of Yerim’s head curiously. She bumped into several people for not looking at her surroundings. 

“It’s for me,” Yerim chirped, throwing a bright smile over her shoulder. 

The store was huge and was separated into several sections. Yerim had let go to find the game she was looking for. Hyejoo slowly followed behind the shorter girl, running her finger tip over the many display boxes. Her eyes jumped from the games to Yerim, making sure she hadn’t lost her. She stopped in place when the display box for the new Resident Evil 3 caught her attention. She leaned in to get a better look at the cover art. Flipping the box over she decided to check the summary and game specs. 

Yerim was at the end of the aisle, she held a game in each hand and was comparing them with knitted brows. 

“Hey, isn’t that Choi Yerim?” A deep voice called out, Hyejoo’s eyes snapped forward. On the aisle next over she could see two boys through the gaps in the shelf. 

“Woah you’re right!” A guy with a hat happily replied, shoving the game they were looking at back where it belonged. 

“Go talk to her dude, she looks like she’s alone. Now’s your chance,” the deeper voiced boy said slapping his friend's shoulder. 

“What? No way, I don’t even look good right now,” his friend said with a scoff. He pulled his hat further down his head, embarrassed. 

Hyejoo scowled as she tried to catch a glimpse of their faces. She had no idea who they were, but maybe Yerim did. She basically knew everyone, it was kind of impressive. 

“Come on! You’re talking to her, and you’re going to get her number. Let’s go,” the deeper boy reassured. Hyejoo heard their sudden shuffling, one of them was loudly dragging his feet. 

When the two boys rounded the corner Yerim looked up in surprise. Hyejoo watched silently from where she stood. They had a soccer ball in a mesh net connected to their gym bag. She wondered if they were actually on the soccer team. Yerim put down the games to give the boys her attention. 

“Hi, we go to the same school, I’m a senior,” the deeper voiced boy introduced. He elbowed his friend with a slight frown. If this is how he would act then he would never wingman for him again. 

“Oh. Uh, I, Hi, I’m also a senior. I’ve seen you around school and you’re so pretty. I’ve always wanted to talk to you, but you’re usually surrounded by other people. So seeing you here by yourself seems like a miracle,” the friend with the hat nervously rambled. 

Hyejoo furrowed her brows in disgust. Yerim let out a girlish giggle she had never heard before. It made her heart clench for some reason. 

“Oh my, thank you so much, that’s very kind of you,” she replied, embarrassed at the compliment. She was used to strangers coming up to her at school. However, being approached outside of campus was still a little weird for her. 

Hyejoo’s phone vibrated in her pants and she tore her eyes away to look down. Thinking it might be her mom she checked the message. 

“I could hold onto it until Monday if you prefer.”

The annoying anger she was feeling suddenly deflated. She glanced back up to see the nervous boy blushing and laughing. 

“Are you able to meet up today?”

Hyejoo quickly typed the words out and hit send. Her blue bubble popped up and she turned back to Yerim. 

“Do you want to go get something to eat together?” the boy with the hat asked. He was scratching the back of his neck. “It’d be my treat of course!” He anxiously chuckled. 

The single vibration brought her eyes back down to her phone. 

“Yes. What place and time?”

Hyejoo bit her lip as she glanced back at Yerim laughing. Her hand had come up to run through her hair shyly. She had never seen Yerim flirt before. It was weird and made her stomach feel queasy. 

Hyejoo sent the time and address of a cafe shop by her apartment complex. A place she often visited with Yerim when craving sugar.

“Ok. See you there.”

“I’m with someone right now actually,” Yerim said glancing back at Hyejoo. She pouted when she noticed the taller girl looking at her phone. 

“That’s okay, my friend is here too. She can talk to him,” the boy replied. He patted his friend with the deeper voice on the shoulder and he nodded in return. 

“Ah,” Yerim chuckled looking back to Hyejoo for support, she had finally caught her dark stare. 

Hyejoo sighed and walked over pocketing her phone away. She couldn’t believe that she was about to be forced to go on a shitty double date for Yerim. 

“That’s a very kind offer but I’m here with someone and we just want it to be us. Thank you...but I’m not interested,” Yerim said, lacing her fingers with Hyejoo’s once she was close enough. She quickly turned on her heel to not see the boy's devastated face. She really hated making people feel bad. It was the reason why she allowed so many strangers to act so friendly with her, even if she got a little uncomfortable. 

Yerim dragged a stumbling Hyejoo out of the store. She wanted to get as much distance between them and the boys as they possibly could. They had hurriedly pushed past people. Zooming in and out of the crowd. Their grip tightening with each escalator they came down. 

“You’re going to rip my arm off!” Hyejoo finally spoke up, pulling back to stop Yerim. They had finally reached the first floor. The smell of food wafted into their noses and Hyejoo’s stomach grumbled. She hadn’t eaten all day and she realized she was starving. 

Yerim let go of her hand only to spin around, she was pouting. She launched herself at Hyejoo and dug her face deep into the taller girl’s neck. Her breath was hot against Hyejoo’s skin. It made her want to squirm and she had to fight the urge to get away. 

Hyejoo looked around the busy mall, they were standing in the middle of the food court. A variety of restaurants ranging from Japanese to Italian to Vietnamese to Mexican were on each side. People walked around them throwing glances back when they were a couple of feet away. 

“That was so embarrassing!” Yerim squeaked. 

“Aren’t you used to it?” Hyejoo asked, looking down at the top of Yerim’s head. She kept her hands stiffly to her sides. 

“No!” Yerim groaned, pulling back to look at Hyejoo. 

Hyejoo quickly averted her eyes to just over Yerim’s forehead. 

“You didn’t think he was cute?” Hyejoo quietly asked, she regretted it almost immediately. Whatever Yerim’s answer was, she wasn’t prepared for it. 

Yerim’s hold loosened as she searched Hyejoo’s face for something she could understand. 

“I mean he was cute but it was creepy being hit on like that,” Yerim finally replied. She sounded unsure, and that tension from before was back. 

She watched as Hyejoo’s brows twitched in response and she poked her tongue out to lick at her lips. 

“Did you... think...he was cute?” Yerim threw the question back. She couldn’t tell what Hyejoo was thinking and it was worrying her. 

Hyejoo scoffed before covering her mouth with her hand in embarrassment. 

“He’s not my type,” she answered truthfully, slowly dropping her hand. She was still avoiding Yerim’s stare. 

Yerim completely let go of her and took a step back to give them space to breathe. She couldn’t tell if she was the one that needed it. 

“What’s your type then? You never talk about boys, so I’m really curious,” Yerim softly smiled at her. 

Hyejoo looked up in thought, how was she supposed to answer that? She had never had a crush on anyone, let alone a stupid boy. If she didn’t answer carefully she could mess everything up. The thought caused her heart to drop to her stomach. She sighed and pushed forward, ignoring the question and leaving Yerim behind. The shorter girl jogged up to keep pace. 

“What’s wrong? Where are you going?” Yerim asked, staring at Hyejoo’s profile. 

“I’m hungry. I just wanted to get in line somewhere,” Hyejoo curtly replied. She was heading to the small Panda Express by the elevators. She didn’t want to wait thirty minutes to be seated. 

When they reached the line of at least four other people, Yerim stayed quiet for only a couple of seconds. Right before they were next to order, she broke the silence. 

“So what’s your type?” Yerim whispered right behind Hyejoo. 

Hyejoo rolled her eyes. 

“I won’t stop asking, so you might as well tell me now,” Yerim said, reaching out to poke Hyejoo’s back. “I’ll be the happiest girl in the world if you tell me your type.” 

“I like shorter…people, with nice smiles,” Hyejoo blankly said. There was no emotion to her tone and it slightly threw Yerim off. 

“Short guys? Mm I guess that’s cute. I wouldn’t have expected that from you though. Girls usually prefer tall guys. Is there anything else?” Yerim asked, she was now running her finger up and down Hyejoo’s spine. 

“They have to be smart and caring. It’s really important that they’re caring,” Hyejoo’s voice unexpectedly trembled and she quickly cleared her throat. 

“I could see you with a guy like that,” Yerim hummed, picturing Hyejoo with an imaginary boyfriend. 

Hyejoo gulped back the heavy feeling in her throat, it felt wrong not correcting Yerim. She was lying but she couldn’t bring herself to be brave. She was weak and scared of rejection. 

Yerim’s arms wrapped themselves around Hyejoo’s body, squeezing tightly. She tiptoed to rest her chin on the taller girl. 

“I don’t want you to get a boyfriend yet, you’ll forget all about me,” Yerim muttered sadly. 

Hyejoo loudly laughed, her body shaking in Yerim’s hold. It caused the shorter girl to frown, she hadn’t said anything particularly funny. She was being serious, she worried about the day Hyejoo found a boyfriend. She was so amazing she knew whoever was lucky enough to win Hyejoo’s love would want her all to himself. It broke Yerim’s heart. 

Hyejoo wanted to turn around, she wanted to echo the words back at Yerim. She wanted Yerim to know the real version of her. The one she was learning more about with each passing day. She didn’t want to lie to the person she cared about most in the world. 

“Can I take your order?” The young man at the register asked. 

Hyejoo’s body finally stopped shaking and she released an airy chuckle. 

“It’s going to be two plates.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi~
> 
> So I’m back, I finally finished my finals so I should be able to update more frequently. In this chapter I wanted to focus on that hollow feeling you feel when you’ve come out for the first time. Where you question everything and you feel extra sensitive (at least that’s how I felt). 
> 
> If you enjoyed this update, please consider leaving a comment! I love reading your feedback. You can also leave a kudo, I honestly appreciate anything. 
> 
> I also still haven’t figured out how to take the traveling note off. If anyone knows please tell me lol.


	6. Desire

Hyejoo checked the time on her phone as she allowed herself to be lazily dragged by Yerim. Her shoes scraped noisily against the concrete underneath their path back home. The sun was setting and Hyejoo had to stop herself from staring too long at the shorter girl. The golden glow on her skin was mesmerizing and she felt like she could get lost in the view if she wasn’t careful. It made her heartbeat pick up in speed and she wondered if it was normal to look at friends like that. Something in the back of her mind told her it wasn’t. 

“Wanna keep hanging out?” Yerim asked, turning to catch Hyejoo’s expressionless stare. She was swinging her shopping bag lightly with a smile. It didn’t matter to her that they had been together the whole day. Hyejoo was one of the few people she felt she could be herself around. The taller girl didn’t have any preconceived expectations of her. It was always refreshing and a needed recharge to her energy before the weekday started up again. 

Hyejoo playfully grimaced, “haven’t we hung out enough already?” 

Hyejoo would’ve gladly said yes if the thought of a certain blonde waiting for her hadn’t popped into her head. She was sure it wouldn’t take long but it still made her face tingle in nervous anticipation. 

Yerim puffed her cheeks offended, “come on, I wanted to play,” she said, tugging childishly on Hyejoo’s arm. They had circled back for the game she wanted after eating. The greasy noodles and shared egg roll needed to be walked off. 

“I can’t. I’m actually meeting someone else right now,” Hyejoo said, looking back at her phone. She would really have to hurry if she didn’t want to be late. When the warm hand on her arm dropped away she glanced up. 

“What?” Yerim asked, she had stopped in place and tilted her head to the side in confusion. “Why didn’t you tell me you had plans before we hung out?” 

“I didn’t have plans before,” Hyejoo said, slowly mirroring Yerim. 

Yerim’s brows knitted tightly, “you made plans with someone else while we were together?” The smile that could always be found on her lips had disappeared. “Don’t you think that’s rude? Was it so boring being with me that you had to make plans with someone else? You could’ve just told me you didn’t want to hang out.”

Hyejoo hesitated as she averted her gaze to a stranger walking by. She had been caught off guard and her mind was racing with how to properly reply. Everything sounded too stupid to say though. 

“When did you do that?” Yerim further questioned with a scoff. She crossed her arms over her chest and watched Hyejoo seemingly malfunction. 

“When those guys were talking to you,” Hyejoo weakly said, looking back to Yerim. She felt like she was being interrogated and her mind had only picked up the last question. She clasped her hands together to stop the way her fingers fidgeted with unease. 

Yerim’s brows shot up in surprise and she chuckled dryly. 

“Wait! Wait a moment! What are you getting so mad about?” Hyejoo asked in a high pitch tone as she felt heat rise up her neck. “You were literally talking to guys! I thought you…” Hyejoo trailed off frowning at what she wanted to say. She had no actual right to be sulking if that’s what Yerim wanted. 

“You thought what? That I was just going to say yes and go out with some random guy?” Yerim said, shaking her head in disappointment. She huffed and started walking again but at a faster pace. She thought Hyejoo knew her better than that.

Yerim had never actually gone out with anyone. Sure there were many requests, but no one had ever caught her eye. The most scandalous thing she had ever done was be kissed on the cheek by a boy in her freshman year. But that was for a play she had been forced into acting for after the main lead sprained her ankle. 

Hyejoo watched for a couple of seconds shocked that everything had suddenly become so tense. She hadn’t thought that Yerim would get so upset about her plans. 

“Are you seriously mad? Like you’re not joking?” Hyejoo asked, jogging to catch up. She put her hand on Yerim’s shoulder to forcefully stop the shorter girl. 

Yerim swirled around and slapped Hyejoo’s hand away. The taller girl recoiled back with wide eyes as she took in Yerim’s frown.

“Why would I be joking! You’re being rude,” Yerim said with a glare.

Hyejoo gulped, even with all the years they’ve known each other it was still weird to see Yerim mad. The girl was always a ball of sunshine and hardly ever let things get to her. It was one of the best things about her. How easygoing she was, there was never any drama. For that reason Hyejoo really didn’t believe that the situation called for this level of anger. It was confusing and she felt the words get stuck in her mouth. 

“I’m going home, have fun,” Yerim said, flipping her hair behind her shoulder. She wouldn’t be standing around like an idiot, waiting for responses. 

“Yerim!” Hyejoo squeaked, coming to life. Even though she felt like she was on the receiving end of whiplash she knew she had to clear things up. She didn’t want to go through another argument that lasted weeks of silent treatment. 

Yerim rolled her eyes before looking back to see Hyejoo’s distressed face. It made her soften and she sighed. Deep down she knew she was just being overdramatic. But their conversation about boys had left a sour taste on her tongue. One that she hadn’t been able to shake no matter how much soda she drank. 

“I didn’t know you’d get so mad. I can call it off if you want,” Hyejoo said, without realizing how insane it sounded until it left her lips. She winced, praying that Yerim wouldn’t call her bluff. There was no way she could just cancel so last minute on Chaewon. 

“I’m not asking you to call anything off. What you did was mean. You can at least let me know next time, or even invite me. I mean...unless it’s a you know...is it a date?” Yerim asked, her voice was small and she avoided Hyejoo’s bewildered stare. She rubbed her hands against her pants when they began to sweat. 

“W-what?” Hyejoo asked, the word floated in the air uncomfortably for what felt like minutes. 

Yerim pouted and met Hyejoo’s eyes, “are you going on some date with a guy? Because I don’t see why else you wouldn't invite me.”

Hyejoo squealed with laughter, suddenly amused like Yerim had just told her the best joke. The sound was ear piercing and a couple of heads turned to watch their interactions.

“Are you jealous?” Hyejoo asked, trying to hold back the grin that threatened to show itself. She took a step closer to grab at Yerim’s shoulders. 

Yerim’s eyes widened and she tensed at the contact. 

“Of course I am! You’re ditching me for some guy!” Yerim exclaimed, stomping her foot down. She was on the edge of having a complete tantrum. 

Hyejoo howled harder, using Yerim to stop herself from doubling over. The shorter girl rolled her eyes again and tried to shrug her off. Her face was on fire and she really wanted to run away from the whole conversation.

“If you’re just going to make fun of me then let me go home already,” Yerim gritted, roughly clasping her hands around Hyejoo’s wrists. 

“I’m not meeting a guy, why would you think that? I’m meeting one of the girls from my club. The club you forced me to join, remember?” Hyejoo said, patting Yerim’s shoulders with her heavy hands to calm her. The shorter girl seemed to sink deeper into her shoes with each tap. 

“I forgot my coat in the club room and she wanted to give it back to me. That's all. So don’t worry, we can probably play your game after I’m done. It shouldn’t take long if you’re willing to wait for me,” Hyejoo said, slipping her hands off of Yerim’s shoulders. She knew Yerim was a jealous girl but it had been years since the last time she witnessed it. The shorter girl hid it well, especially when she was first in line to advocate that Hyejoo make more friends. It was only when she felt actual threat to her best friend status did she show her possessive qualities. 

Yerim blushed and groaned, pushing Hyejoo back with a light shove.

“You should’ve said that from the start! I wouldn’t have felt this way if you just told me you were meeting a club member, and a girl at that!” Yerim said, emphasizing the gender. She rubbed at her forehead, exhausted at the roller coaster mood change. 

The smile on Hyejoo’s face dropped away and she bitterly hummed in response.

“So you’re only worried about me meeting with guys?” Hyejoo asked, watching Yerim’s eyes snap to her in puzzlement. She hadn’t meant to say it. She wanted to pull the words back in and swallow them. 

“Well, yeah? I mean, are you saying that there’s someone in the club that’s trying to be your best friend?” Yerim asked, genuinely curious. She looked up in thought, picturing each of the girls in her head. She was only close to Jiwoo and she assumed that could be who Hyejoo was talking about. But the taller girl hadn’t said anything about any of them since joining. It made her wonder if it wasn’t Jiwoo who else it could be that was trying to get close to her. Maybe that’s why the taller girl had been acting odd.

Hyejoo’s eyes scanned Yerim’s face for anything that would indicate that they might be on the same page. When all she got in return was a clueless stare her heart clenched. It’d be easier if Yerim could just understand without her having to painfully spell it out. But it was hard to stay angry at someone who simply had never considered that kind of possibility. Yerim was blissfully unaware of relationships that didn’t involve a man and woman. With a deep sigh Hyejoo shook her head dejectedly. 

“No, you’re the only one.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Hyejoo walked into the cafe the fresh smell of bread and roasting coffee beans welcomed her. It was relaxing and just what she needed to distract herself from the disappointment she felt minutes ago. She knew she was being unfair, she was the odd one, not Yerim. But, it still bothered her that the shorter girl was so blind.

Hyejoo took less than 5 seconds to find golden blonde hair. Chaewon was in a pink oversized sweater and light blue jeans cuffed at the ankle. Hyejoo didn’t know what she was expecting in the blonde's casual wear, but it wasn’t that. She made her way to the two person table and stopped in front of the chair. Chaewon didn’t look up from her phone as she swiped her thumb up the screen. 

“Are you going to say hi? Or just stand there all freaky like?” Chaewon asked, a grin on her lips as her eyes stayed glued to her phone. 

Hyejoo scowled, she didn’t know Chaewon too well but the girl seemed a lot more playful than she originally thought. Hyejoo was beginning to believe that no one in the club was normal. 

“Hey,” Hyejoo lamely said, her hands reaching out to prop herself against the chair. 

“Hello, you’re late,” Chaewon said, putting her phone down to look up at Hyejoo. She had been waiting for almost twenty minutes by then. She smiled and lifted the taller girl's coat off her lap. 

“Thanks, you didn’t have to though,” Hyejoo said, reaching across the table to take it back. She wanted to go home as soon as possible. She wanted to hide away in her room. Maybe then things wouldn’t feel so suffocating for her. 

Chaewon brought the coat closer to her chest and fluttered her lashes. “Take a seat, I bought this to share with you. Think of it as a little token of my apology.” 

Hyejoo frowned looking down at the table and only seeing a vanilla ice latte. It was already half drunk and she had to stop herself from scoffing. 

“I’m not going to dri-“ Hyejoo started but was interrupted by the barista that was always working when she stopped by. She figured he must’ve been the son of the owners. 

“Here you go miss, enjoy,” the barista said, placing a slice of strawberry shortcake down on the table between them. He smiled at Hyejoo in recognition and then made his way back to the counter. 

“Now will you sit down please. It’s weird that you’re still standing up,” Chaewon said, putting the coat back down on her lap, effectively taking it hostage. 

Hyejoo glanced out towards the window, the sun had set and it was dark outside. She bit her lip and pulled the chair out to take a seat. Once the blonde finished the cake she would leave. 

“I could’ve left your coat in the club room,” Chaewon said, breaking the silence that had fallen upon them. She had picked up one of the forks that were set by the plate. “But, I wanted an excuse to talk to you. This seemed like the only good way to do it. I don’t really like texting, it’s a big hassle.” 

Hyejoo watched as Chaewon pierced the lone strawberry on the cake. She delicately brought it to her pink lips. 

“Why?” Hyejoo asked, her eyes roaming up Chaewon’s doll-like features. She was flawless and Hyejoo had a hard time believing the girl had gotten bullied. Even if it was for her sexuality, how could someone be mean to a girl so pretty? When Hyejoo’s eyes reached Chaewon’s she felt her cheeks get warm. The blonde was staring back at her intently. 

“I was unnecessarily rough with you,” Chaewon said, eyeing Hyejoo’s collar. She never acted that way and she had been feeling guilty since it happened. It didn’t matter that Hyejoo had apologized, it still lingered in the back of her mind. 

Hyejoo shyly nodded, scratching her cheek. “It’s fine though, I didn’t mind at all.” 

“Huh, aren’t you a little too young to be fine with that type of stuff?” Chaewon wondered out loud as her brow raised suggestively. She broke out into a devilish grin when she noticed how red Hyejoo turned. 

“I...u-uh, that’s not,” Hyejoo nervously fumbled as she averted her gaze to her fidgeting fingers on the table. She only looked up when she heard the breathy giggles of the blonde. She had definitely underestimated the blondes ability to tease. 

“I’m kidding,” Chaewon said, waving the fork with the strawberry around. “You seem kinda scary but you’re really just a baby aren’t you?” Chaewon smiled, finally taking a bite of the strawberry. 

Hyejoo watched the way the blonde chewed, hiding her lips behind a small pale hand. “You’re just a year older than me,” she said, annoyed at being made fun of. The only other person that ever did stuff like that was Yerim. Her heart clenched again at the thought of her friend. She really just wanted to get in bed and sleep. 

Chaewon grinned and shrugged, “here, you can have this half.” She aimed the rounded part of the strawberry at Hyejoo expectedly. The taller girl glared down at it like it owed her money. Or maybe like it had said something offensive about her mother. Either way it made Chaewon want to laugh. 

“It won’t bite,” Chaewon said, pushing the fork closer to Hyejoo’s closed lips. Hyejoo felt her brow twitch and she angrily grabbed the fork, ripping the strawberry from it’s impalement. 

Chaewon giggled again when Hyejoo let go of her hand that she had involuntarily held. She couldn’t believe she had been scared of the taller girl. With a smile she went back to the cake and scooped a piece into her mouth. 

Hyejoo quickly swallowed the piece down as she continued to watch Chaewon. The cake was good, but she already knew that. It was one of Yerim’s favorites, and they often had one when they stopped by the cafe. They took turns buying and Yerim always had the strawberry. 

“She’s straight,” Hyejoo said, sinking deep into the chair. The words sounded explosive even to her ears. 

Chaewon stilled, she blinked a couple of times before continuing to scoop another piece of the cake. This time she brought it to Hyejoo’s lips, her open palm underneath to catch any crumbs. 

Hyejoo darkly stared down at the offered sweet on Chaewon’s fork. 

“Open,” Chaewon demanded, her tone similar to that at the bleachers. It made Hyejoo hesitate but her lips fell apart anyways. Chaewon carefully placed the cake into Hyejoo’s waiting mouth. 

While Hyejoo was busy chewing, Chaewon put the fork down and took a hold of her latte. She nibbled the straw thoughtfully. 

“Did you hear what I said?” Hyejoo asked, licking at the frosting that was stuck to the corner of her lips. She felt too stubborn to ask Chaewon for one of her napkins. 

“Did you?” Chaewon mocked, still biting down on the straw. The words had sounded like they weren’t just met for her. It was almost like an excruciating reminder.

Hyejoo frowned, “I’m serious. She’s not like…”

“Like us?” Chaewon filled in, sucking up some of her latte. It was starting to taste a little watered down. “I’m already aware of that,” she said, pushing her straw around in the glass. The ice cubes clinked against each other. Chaewon had a specific type and they hardly ever tended to be anything but straight. 

“Then why would you still want to confess to her?” Hyejoo asked, her voice rising. “You’re going to be rejected. She could hate you, you know that right?” She scowled at her own words but pushed it down. 

Chaewon stared at her curiously, “I can’t help how I feel Hyejoo. Honestly, even if my love can’t be returned I just want her to know. I deserve that much don't you think?” 

“No! That’s selfish!” Hyejoo loudly said, slapping her hand down against the table. It caused the forks to rattle and Chaewon straightened up even more. Hyejoo’s eyes had glossed over as she glared at the blonde. She should just keep it to herself. It was better that way, there would never be any uncomfortableness that way. 

“Maybe, I never said I wasn’t selfish. But I have a feeling you can understand where I’m coming from. It’s more painful to wonder about the what ifs of the world, isn’t it? When I graduate, I don’t want to have any regrets. If my heart ends up broken, at least no one can say I didn’t try,” Chaewon said, her hands were slightly trembling on the table and Hyejoo clenched her jaw. Hyejoo’s body was humming with anxiety as she tried to calm herself. She should’ve just gone home. 

“Also, for what it’s worth, I don’t think she’s capable of hating anyone. In fact I think you should know that better than anyone else at school,” Chaewon said with an airy chuckle. She looked uncomfortable and she brought her hands down to her lap. She played with the collar of Hyejoo’s coat for a moment while she bit her lip. 

“Do you honestly think she would hate me?” Chaewon asked, she cocked her head to the side with a sad smile. She tightened her grip on the collar, wrinkling it. The time she spent ironing it, wasted.

Hyejoo’s eyes widened and she blinked rapidly at the sudden sting of tears. A dam had burst and her vision blurred. The implication of Chaewon’s question not lost on her. 

Do you think she would hate us? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chaewon softly patted Hyejoo’s back, as the girl’s shoulders shook. They had crammed themselves into the one person toilet in the cafe. When Hyejoo’s tears hadn’t stopped at the table even after a minute, people had started to stare. Chaewon had taken her by the hand and led her somewhere more private. She had briefly thought about how this was what it must feel like in all the dramas she watched. When people broke up in public spaces and caused a scene. 

“It’s okay,” Chaewon cooed, she ripped off another couple of squares of the roll of toilet paper. She cautiously folded the paper and tried to dab at Hyejoo’s eyes. 

When Hyejoo looked up, pieces of paper were stuck to her lashes. The corner of Chaewon’s lips twitched at the sight and she quickly pinched them off. She hadn’t meant to make the taller girl cry. She really did just want to apologize over cake and get to know her better. She had even gone as far as to ask Jungeun for advice on how to approach the younger girl. Chaewon wasn’t the best at making friends. She was extremely shy, and people usually wrote her off as stuck up. Jungeun had simply groaned and told her to think of Hyejoo as just another annoying brat in their club. 

“You really are just a baby,” Chaewon whispered, she was gently caressing Hyejoo’s flushed cheek. “You know, it’s pretty scary. This whole initial process that is. It can be scary and exhausting. I was all alone when I went through it. But you don’t have to be, if you don’t want to,” Chaewon continued. Hyejoo leaned into her touch, hungry for affection. The same strong cravings she had to be cared for from the night before kicked in. “You don’t have to pretend with me.”

“I shouldn’t have blown up like that. I’m sorry for getting upset,” Hyejoo muttered, pushing her face a little harder into Chaewon’s hand. They were completely separated from the rest of the world. She felt just as vulnerable as when she was in the hallway with the blonde. “I don’t know what to do. I’ve been feeling really confused lately. I feel so desperate and I know I shouldn’t.” 

Chaewon slowly pulled her hand back and rested against the sink much to the displeasure of Hyejoo. Her brows were scrunched up in confusion. She knew there was more that the taller girl wasn’t saying. 

“Well, I think it’s important that we trust each other. I want to be your friend Hyejoo, I really do. You said you wanted to help me and I appreciate that. I’d like to help you with whatever you need. I can tell that there’s something up,” Chaewon said eyeing the taller girl seriously. 

Hyejoo sadly chuckled and nodded, “yeah.” She thought it was funny that someone who hardly knew her could see her trouble. It made her worry about how noticeable it must really be. 

“Yeah,” Chaewon cooly parroted. 

“I do need your help,” Hyejoo softly said, she had turned to look at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were puffy and there was still a red tint to her cheeks. She hadn’t been liking what she saw anymore. It was someone else and it frightened her to death. “I don’t want to fall in love.”

“Pardon?” Chaewon squeaked. Her hand slid off the sink and she stumbled to the right. Her shoe bumped against the small trash bin and sent it flying to its side. 

“I think...I feel like I’ve been falling for Yerim,” Hyejoo said, she looked away from her reflection in shame. It wasn’t right, they were best friends and that’s all they should be. She felt like she was betraying Yerim with her feelings. It was sick that she was twisting the shorter girl's love into something that it wasn’t.

“So you do like her then?” Chaewon quietly asked. Hyejoo looked up, it sounded almost like an accusation. But the pitying look the blonde gave her was enough to tell her it wasn’t. “If you like her then why would you do that to yourself? Why would you agree to help me?”

“I told you before, Yerim is my best friend. I don’t want to ruin that with this,” Hyejoo said, waving at herself. “She doesn’t deserve that.” 

Chaewon’s hands shot out and harshly grabbed Hyejoo’s head in place. The taller girl had a knack for causing her to be rough. 

“You deserve to feel love and be loved. You deserve that Hyejoo,” Chaewon sternly said. It’s what she would have wanted to hear when she first fell in love. “Don’t do that to yourself. You should just forget what I asked. I wasn’t sure about you at first. But I won’t get in your way, I’m not like that.” 

Hyejoo yanked her head back from the blonde's grasp. 

“No! I need your help! Please Chaewon. I don’t want…not with her. I don’t want to ruin what we already have. I’ve known her since we were kids. I’m not like you, I don’t want to share those feelings and be rejected. I don’t need to fail just so I can say I tried. I just want to be there for her, always. If that means I have to push down these thoughts, then I’ll gladly do it. You wanted to help me right? Then here it is! Help me not fall any further,” Hyejoo said, trembling again. “Please.”

“Hyejoo...” Chaewon whispered, the girl was shaking like a leaf. It wasn’t right, she knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. But she couldn’t look at Hyejoo’s pleading face and say no. She wasn’t heartless and she could understand all too well the pain the taller girl was going through. There’s nothing you can do when you fall in love with your best friend. She would just have to suck it up and try to move. 

Chaewon deeply sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She knew this was a bad idea but the words tumbled out of her mouth anyways. 

“Okay. If that’s really what you want, I’ll help you.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They stood silently outside of Hyejoo’s apartment. Chaewon nervously chewed on her lip, she was still holding onto the coat. The blonde hadn’t said a word to Hyejoo since they walked out of the cafe. It was strange and it made her second guess her request. 

“Well, this is me,” Hyejoo finally said, brows furrowed as she reached for the door. She had been slightly surprised that Chaewon had just followed her like a lost puppy. 

Chaewon grabbed her hand tightly before she could put in her passcode. Hyejoo looked down at the hand and then back up to Chaewon’s face. 

“We’ll have to set some ground rules,” Chaewon whispered, she was eyeing the door. She didn’t know who Hyejoo lived with but she didn’t want to potentially say something incriminating. 

Hyejoo nodded and moved her hand away from the keypad. They both took a few steps back so they weren’t standing right in front of the entrance. 

“We can’t speak about this to anyone else okay? Not even the girls in the club, got it?” Chaewon asked, her eyes were still scanning their surroundings just in case. She knew that Jungeun would strongly disapprove of their new deal.

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Hyejoo replied with a nod. She wasn’t exactly eager to tell anyone else either. She had only told Chaewon because of her unexpected vulnerability around the blonde. She probably would’ve just kept to herself if they hadn’t met today. Her emotions had been all over the place due to Yerim. 

“We have to be truthful with each other, okay? If something happens that makes you feel uncomfortable you need to tell me,” Chaewon continued. 

“Okay, sure,” Hyejoo answered. 

“I still haven’t thought of how I’ll help you, but hopefully I’ll have a plan by Monday,” Chaewon muttered, rubbing at her chin pensively. 

“That’s fine,” Hyejoo said, lowering her voice. “I’ll start helping you get closer to her.” 

Chaewon held back the shudder she felt at the emptiness of the words. She couldn’t help but feel it was wrong to make Hyejoo help her. 

“This is your last chance. We wouldn’t have to talk about it ever again if you changed your mind. Hyejoo are you sure about this?” Chaewon asked, she searched the taller girl’s eyes. They only stared back at her bitterly. 

“I’m sure,” Hyejoo breathed. 

Chaewon nodded and handed back the coat she had gripped tightly in her hands. She hadn’t expected their meeting to go like this. How would they be able to handle two completely opposite desires. 

“I’ll see you at school okay?,” Chaewon threw over her shoulder as she made her way to the stairs. She gave Hyejoo one last curious stare, “text me if you need me.” 

Hyejoo blinked and slowly nodded. 

“Okay.” 

When she was sure Chaewon was gone, she reached into her pocket and pulled her phone out. Yerim had sent her one message. 

“Are you still coming over?”

Hyejoo stared at it, reading the words over and over again until they didn’t mean anything. Clearing the message, she walked back to the keypad and put in her code. The door beeped and she opened it. Just like every other day all of the lights were off. If her mom happened to be in she was probably already sleeping. 

“I’m back,” she whispered to no one in particular, the silence welcomed her home.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Aha wait what.... Hello everyone! So I’ve decided to just add my author notes here. That way I don’t have to deal with the old traveling ones. Anyways I was kinda taking a small break, which is why I took a little longer to post. I’m not gonna lie I had a tough time writing this one. But we all knew it couldn’t be sunny every day right? Also I don’t know if that’s ever happened to you but having someone go make plans while you’re hanging out is shitty! 

If you’d like to come bother me for updates you can do that at my newly updated twitter! 

Twitter: A_Mimirr 

If you’d like to yell at me anonymously, you can do that here! 

CuriousCat: https://curiouscat.me/A_Mimirr

If you enjoyed this, please leave a Kudo or comment! I appreciate any form of feedback!:)


	7. Complicated

Yerim chewed on her lip as she stared down at the stack of papers on her desk, the booth deadline for the fall festival was nearing and it had caused a surge of work for her. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to focus on any of her school or club duties because of one person. Yerim was absolutely sure that Hyejoo was avoiding her for some reason and it was driving her crazy. The taller girl hadn’t replied to her messages on sunday and when she stopped by in the morning to see if she wanted to go to school together, Hyejoo’s Mother told her she had already left. That's how she knew it was serious, the taller girl never got up earlier than needed. Yerim sighed as she sank deeper into her chair, her mind had been racing since she walked to the bus stop alone. Her stomach pitifully grumbled and she looked at her untouched lunchbag her mother had prepared for her on the corner of her desk with a frown. She had asked for an extra serving to share with Hyejoo, she thought maybe it would help get the taller girl to forgive whatever she did. Yerim let out a groan and dropped her head onto the papers with a soft thud. 

“You haven’t looked this down since that one time you had to clean the club room because you lost a game against us,” a deep and smooth voice called out to Yerim. The owner of the voice had her hands shoved into her coat pockets and her head was tilted to the side in amusement. 

Yerim slowly lifted her head up to see the Speaker of the Student Council smirking down at her. She usually welcomed the other girls smug attitude but in that moment she couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed. She had been so preoccupied with her own thoughts she hadn’t noticed the older girl walk in. 

“What are you doing here?” Yerim asked, trying to straighten herself out. She didn’t like looking so unprofessional in front of others. Even if the other person was as nonchalant as the girl in front of her.

“I stopped by for a few notes, I have a meeting with some faculty on friday. I need to start preparing,” the girl said, running her hand through her long brown flowing hair. She hopped up on the empty desk next to Yerim and pulled a lollipop out from her pocket. “What are you working on that's got you so stressed?” She only looked mildly interested in the answer as she read the flavor with a raised brow, she could've sworn it was cherry. 

Yerim watched with growing impatience as the girl ripped the wrapper off and plunged the red candy into her mouth. She kicked her legs out happily as she sucked up the artificial watermelon flavor.

“Didn’t you say you were trying to cut back on sugar?” Yerim avoided the question, sitting back in her chair with a forced smile. Out of all the club members, she butted heads with her the most. Yerim assumed it had to do with being so close in age. But it also didn’t help that she walked around like she owned the place. “Your teeth might actually fall out.”

The other girl chuckled and popped the candy out of her mouth loudly. “I floss twice a day, I doubt it. Anyways, I won’t tell anyone what’s got you so worked up, if you don’t tell any of the others about this.” She waved her lollipop around before crossing her leg over her knee and leaning back lazily on the desk. 

Yerim scratched her cheek disappointed that her distraction wasn’t enough to derail the initial question.“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she huffed, shuffling papers around and trying to get back to work. She had already spent more time than she would care to admit just staring into space and longing for Hyejoo’s response. 

“Oh come on! Just tell me, maybe I can help you out,” the older girl said, slightly frowning at her friend's unwillingness to open up. If their club was a family then she was the treasured son. She always got what she wanted one way or another from her members. She knew this would be no different and all she would have to do was poke hard enough. 

“Heejin,” Yerim whined, slapping her hands to her head in a rare burst of frustration. She had been feeling extra sensitive and the other girl really didn't know when to give up. She supposed that’s what made her so great at her position. 

“Yerim,” Heejin mocked, completely unfazed by the sudden turn in the usually happy member. Instead, she grinned slightly, it was important to know that even someone as incredibly bright as Yerim could wake up on the wrong side of the bed.

“It’s not a big deal, it’s just, I don’t know. My best friend has been ignoring me,” Yerim mumbled defeated, she brought her hands down onto the desk and fiddled with them nervously. “It’s stupid honestly, this isn’t even club related. I know you were just messing with me but we really don’t have to talk about this.”

“I wasn’t messing with you,” Heejin said, sitting up properly to give Yerim her full attention. Even though both girls had known each other for more than a year they had never really talked about their personal problems to one another. That was something that they went to the older members for. Frankly, as far as she was aware this was the first time she had ever seen the younger girl upset. She would just have to try her best not to sound too insensitive. 

“So, what’d you do to make her mad?” The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop herself. Heejin winced, that was definitely the opposite of what she wanted. 

“I didn’t do anything!” Yerim quickly said, looking flustered. “I mean, I don’t know? I don’t think I did anything. We went out and then all of a sudden the next day she didn’t respond to me.”

“Maybe it’s not you then,” Heejin said, her brows knitted in thought. She needed to channel Haseul, she always knew what to say. 

“But if that’s the case, don’t you think she should let me know? I mean, we’re supposed to be best friends. Why wouldn’t she be able to talk to me about whatever is bothering her?” Yerim rambled, twisting her fingers together. “W-what if...what if someone was mean to her because of me?” 

Heejin hummed and nodded her head at that. It wouldn’t have been the first time Yerim had complained about friends being scared away by overzealous admirers. It had gotten so bad once that they had to get the principle involved. “If you’re best friends then do you really think she’d let someone scare her away like that?” 

“Well, no,” Yerim sighed. She took the time to look around the club room. It was full of trinkets and signs that identified each member's personality. It was easy to pick out the messier girls. She had been able to tell that Haseul had stopped by earlier in the morning as soon as she came in. The small table in the corner that they used to place pastries and their instant coffee had empty wrappers across the surface. Jinsoul’s magazine collection was practically spilling out onto her chair from her desk. Sooyoung had left her gym bag haphazardly by the door, almost causing Yerim to trip. All sorts of papers were scattered across Heejins desk and paper balls littered the surrounding area. Unsurprisingly, the only one out of them all that kept a tidy space was Kahei. 

Yerim’s eyes finally came back to focus on the older girl who was watching her with a brow raised. Hyejoo was the strongest person she knew. There was no way she would let someone bully her. “But that just means that whatever she’s going through, she doesn’t want to tell me about it. Isn’t that worse?” 

Heejin frowned, beginning to feel exasperated, “she’s at lunch right now, right?”

“Yeah,” Yerim sadly answered. She pulled her phone out only to see zero messages from the taller girl. She had been left on read and it made her heart ache. This felt worse than any other time they had fought with each other. She had absolutely no clue of what she could’ve done to upset Hyejoo. 

“Why don’t we just find her, then you can ask her yourself?” Heejin proudly said, jumping off the desk and smoothing her skirt down. She was a woman of action and she was tired of thinking of all the possibilities Yerim’s friend could have to be upset. 

“What! N-no way! What if that just makes it worse?” Yerim shot up from her chair frantically. She hadn’t had high hopes for advice from Heejin but that was somehow below what she expected. 

“It’s not like you’re going to attack her or anything. The quicker you talk it out the quicker you can go back to being friends,” Heejin said, sticking her lollipop back into her mouth. 

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea,” Yerim said, looking around the empty club room and wishing someone would help her. Once Heejin set her mind to something it was almost impossible to stop her. Yerim knew she should just save herself a headache and go along with the older girl's idea. Maybe, if she was lucky once her member became aware of all the details, she’d give up. 

“So! Where can we find her? The cafeteria? Or does she go outside to eat?” Heejin scrunched her face up in disgust, forcing the lollipop to her right cheek. She didn’t get the hype of eating lunch outside. It was gross and pigeons...she held back a shiver. Pigeons hung around outside trying to pick up any forgotten food. Or worse people actively fed those dirty rats of the sky. 

Yerim bit her lip, “she’s in a club, so she might be there.” Heejin’s eyes snapped back to her and she smiled, relieved they wouldn’t have to go outside. 

“Oh, that’s great! It narrows our search down, so which club is she in?” Heejin clapped her hands, waiting on Yerim’s response. She was starting to feel excited at being able to brag to the others that she helped their youngest member in her time of need. 

“She’s in the newspaper club,” Yerim said, watching the natural way Heejin’s smile slowly disappeared. 

“Oh.” Heejin’s voice seemed to drop a couple of octaves. 

“Yeah,” Yerim pursed her lips and nodded her head. They all knew about her falling out with a member of that club. It was the only thing Heejin would talk about for almost a full month after it happened. Nothing they ever did helped her, it wasn’t until one random monday she walked in like nothing was wrong. It hadn’t been mentioned since. Yerim honestly felt guilty for hoping that the sour memories would stop the older girl from continuing.

Heejin took a deep breath and blew it out her nose. She shakily grabbed a hold of Yerim’s hand and smiled again. The lollipop noisily clanked against her teeth as she moved it to her left cheek. 

“Let’s do this.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yerim stood in front of Hyejoo’s club room door with a large clipboard to her chest. They had argued about their excuse for showing up unannounced for nearly ten minutes in the stairwell. Yerim had snatched the metal clipboard from Heejin and stomped her way to the end of the hallway fully regretting the whole situation. The rush of adrenaline had subsided and now she could hear the faint sound of music through the door. It only served to make her heart pound harder. She took a quick glance back and caught the distressed look on Heejin’s face. She figured that’s probably what she looked like too. 

“This is dumb, we should just go back,” Yerim whispered turning away from the door. She had the sneaking suspicion that Heejin might bolt if Hyunjin was sitting on the other side. It didn’t help her feel secure in confronting Hyejoo at all. 

“What? Don’t be a baby, just knock,” Heejin harshly whispered back. Her eyebrows were still knitted in worry. If Yerim stared at her long enough she was sure that the younger girl would’ve been able to see the way she slightly trembled. It’s not like she hadn’t seen Hyunjin around before since their...whatever it was, happened. They were in the same grade and even had class right next to each other in the afternoons. Hyunjin was just exceptionally good at slipping away from any potentially meaningful interactions. 

“This is too dramatic! I should just give her space, what am I doing?” Yerim breathed out, rubbing her forehead in disbelief. She shouldn’t have listened to the older girl to begin with. She should’ve just trusted that Hyejoo would reach out to her whenever she was ready even if it was killing her. 

“No way! We have a plan, stick to it,” Heejin quietly gritted, putting her hands on Yerim’s shoulders. She forcefully turned her back to face the door. She was sure they were making too much noise. It was a miracle someone hadn’t already come out yet to investigate. Heejin wasn’t so sure who exactly she was doing this for. She normally wasn’t so bossy with the younger girl. Groaning, she shook her head. She shouldn’t try to take advantage of Yerim’s problem. Even if it felt like an easy way to kill two birds with one stone. 

“No, this is a bad plan!” Yerim whined, weakly struggling underneath Heejin’s grip. It was almost like the older girl was made of pure muscle. Yerim would’ve never guessed with how small her frame was. 

Heejin rolled her eyes and flung the door open without any warning. She pushed Yerim forward with a grunt and stayed far behind just in case Hyunjin’s first instinct was to fight. 

Yerim stumbled into the club with a yelp and was surprised to see the back of Jungeun shoot up from her sitting position. The older girl turned to look at her with wide angry eyes. Her ears had gone a painful red and Yerim’s focus trailed back to the chair. In front of the now empty seat was Jiwoo, even from where she stood she could see the smudged lip tint. 

Jiwoo opened her eyes with a few heavy blinks before she locked her sight on Yerim. She broke out into a smile from ear to ear as she stood up. It had been a couple of days since they had last spoken to each other. 

“Yerimie!” Jiwoo happily called as she skipped past the frozen Jungeun. She quickly wrapped her strong arms around the younger girl and gave her a tight squeeze. It felt different than the other ones Yerim was used to receiving. It was tense and something else she couldn’t quite figure out. 

“Um Jiwoo, your...your lip tint,” Yerim whispered as she worriedly tried to pull back from the hug. She shot a look back at Jungeun who only seemed to be turning redder as the seconds ticked by. She would’ve cleaned it for the older girl herself if her arms weren’t pinned to her sides. It was only the proper thing to do when a friend had something on their face. 

“Oh my Gosh! How embarrassing!” Jiwoo giggled as she sloppily wiped the edge of her lip with the back of her hand. Her cheeks were mildly flushed and she released Yerim from her remaining grip to clasp her hands together innocently in front of her.

“What were you guys doing?” Yerim genuinely asked, her brows were knitted together in confusion. Something in the back of her mind told her that she should be the one embarrassed for walking in on something she clearly wasn't supposed to see. It reminded her of the time she had walked by an empty senior classroom after school and heard two students going at it. She had been insanely mortified and avoided that hallway for the rest of the semester. But since they were both girls her mind was having a hard time processing it, so she tried to push the thoughts away. 

“Makeup.” Jungeun and Jiwoo answered in unison. Their voices were polar opposites, Jungeun sounded strangled and raspy. While Jiwoo was cool and collected, a cheerful smile across her lips. 

“Makeup...?” Yerim repeated. She felt heat begin to crawl up her neck the more she tried to make sense of it. 

“Yeah, Jungeun isn’t too good at it yet. So I told her she could practice on me. That’s probably why she looks so red, she’s shy. So, don't judge her skills too hard,” Jiwoo whispered, a wide devilish grin replacing her sugary smile. Jungeun had started to squirm at the mention of her name. 

Yerim’s eyes jumped from both girls and back to the chairs. She didn’t see any makeup pouch anywhere. 

“Ahem,” Heejin cleared her throat, bringing their attention onto her. Jiwoo’s smile faded and Jungeun narrowed her eyes at the girl. Heejin clearly wasn’t the only one who had gone to her members after the falling out. She avoided their displeasing looks and stared at Yerim instead. “This conversation has been lovely and all but we’re actually here on some official business. Isn’t that correct?”

“Oh right,” Yerim mumbled, she was sure the blush had reached her cheeks by then. She quickly scanned the room and was disappointed to find Jungeun and Jiwoo were the only members inside. “Would any of you happen to know where Hyejoo is?” 

Jiwoo snorted, “that doesn’t sound too official.” 

Heejin sighed and scratched her brow, “this is actually about your forms for the fall festival. We were stopping by clubs that have yet to submit.”

Jungeun scoffed, finally regaining her usual gruff when dealing with anyone that wasn't Yerim on the student council. “If I remember correctly there’s still some time to submit.” She swaggered over to glare down at Heejin. 

Heejin clenched her jaw before smiling, she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear sweetly. “That’s certainly true, however our poor Yerimie as you so lovingly called her, has a lot of work now because of this. It’d be easier on her if we could get everything in early. She is the activity coordinator after all and has many other events to worry about.” 

Jiwoo pouted, noticing the intensity between both girls. She could understand where Jungeun was coming from though. The older girl had been the main one to put back the pieces after Hyunjin was shattered. She looked over to Yerim who seemed lost in space, “Hyejoo was here, but she went somewhere with Chae. It was a while ago, so they’re probably on their way back.” She had placed her hand on the younger girl's shoulder and given it a squeeze to bring her out of her thoughts. Yerim had startled at the touch and looked to her shoulder before going back to Jiwoo’s concerned face.

Jungeun ripped her gaze from Heejin to look over at Yerim after hearing Jiwoo mention one of their newest members. She eyed the way the younger girl looked tired and smaller than usual with apprehension. 

“Didn’t you say you needed to use the restroom?” Heejin huffed, still agitated at Jungeun’s hostility but following the plan. She roughly snatched the clipboard from the other girl's hands and threw her thumb over her shoulder at the open door. “I’ll take care of this while you’re out.” 

“Uh, yeah, thank you. I’ll be back in a minute,” Yerim nodded, glancing at everyone around her. Jungeun averted her gaze too nervous to meet the younger girls stare.

“Take all the time you need,” Jiwoo smiled, patting Yerim before she could leave. She knew whatever had the bubbly girl down had to do with Hyejoo. Their younger member had shown up earlier just as miserable before Chaewon had swooped in and taken care of her. She thought it was intriguing how close they suddenly seemed to be. Jiwoo could tell by the way Jungeun stared at Hyejoo she thought the same. 

As Yerim walked out and Heejin retrieved the form from inside the metal clipboard, Jungeun knitted her brows. She quickly slung her arm over Jiwoo’s shoulders and brought her in close to whisper into her ear. “What’s up with little miss sunshine? She's acting kinda weird don't you think?” Jungeun was worried that whatever the younger girl thought she saw was making her uncomfortable to be around them. 

Jiwoo softly smiled at Jungeun, holding back a laugh. Even though Yerim annoyed their Editor-in-chief with her bright attitude, she was definitely the favorite out of all the other members in the student council. It was obvious with the long list of cute pet names the older girl gave her when she wasn’t in earshot. 

Jiwoo sighed at how dense Jungeun could be some times. 

“Who knows.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yerim groaned as she walked past the restroom, her shoes scraping against the floor. She wasn’t sure what Heejin wanted her to do. It’s not like she could just go search for Hyejoo all around campus, it would take too long. She bit her lip before frowning and lifted a finger to it. She slowly traced the soft curve several times. Her mind had drifted back to Jungeun and Jiwoo. Even though she hadn’t actually seen it, she knew deep down what had happened seconds before her interruption. Her heart was pounding again and she felt uncomfortably warm. She had heard rumors of some girls doing stuff like that with each other. But they were always so distant from her life. There were never faces to go along with the random names in the gossip. She had foolishly never even thought about the possibility that some of the girls that lined up to see her would maybe want to date her too. Yerim squeezed her eyes shut, finding another reason to be upset at herself. She had been so inconsiderate of other people’s feelings without even knowing it. 

“Yerim?” It was just above a whisper but it was enough to make her jump. 

“Are you okay?” Hyejoo asked, reaching out to grab the shorter girl's arm but hesitating. Yerim was the last person she wanted to see at that moment if she was being honest. 

Yerim let out a shallow breath as she turned to stare at Hyejoo’s frowning face, she dropped her hand back to her side. Yerim’s eyes moved towards Chaewon who was standing by the taller girl with a blank expression. Her arms were packed with different snacks and it made Yerim clench her jaw. Jealousy bubbled and spilled over, had she been the only one hurting this whole time? 

In the blink of an eye, Chaewon gasped, dropping the junk food to the floor. Yerim was...scowling at her and...crying. 

“Yerim!” Hyejoo screeched, looking between both girls. Her mind was racing and for a moment she thought that the shorter girl had found out about their feelings for her. But there was no way that could happen, Chaewon had sworn to secrecy over ten times. 

“What’s going on? Why are you crying?” Hyejoo frantically asked, lifting her hands to cup Yerim’s face. The shorter girl pulled away roughly and angrily rubbed at her eyes. “Hey, don’t be like that, what’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”

“You! You’re what’s wrong with me! Why have you been ignoring me?” Yerim sniffled. Hyejoo’s eyes widened and she shot a pleading look at Chaewon. The blonde was too busy staring at the crying girl in front of her to notice Hyejoo. Before she could stop herself her hand had come up to rub against Yerim’s arm. 

It was the first time Chaewon had ever made any kind of contact with Yerim and she glanced at her quickly before sniffling more. It's not like she had ever had anything against the blonde before. Yerim had always thought she was really pretty, shy, and kind, even if she was a little stiff with her behavior. 

“Yerim, that’s not...I haven’t,” Hyejoo whispered. She couldn’t even finish, they both knew it was a lie. She had gotten scared after finally admitting her attraction for Yerim to Chaewon. It’s not like she was trying to hurt the shorter girl, she was just trying to survive her own feelings. The floodgates had opened and she wasn't sure how she could act normal now. Everything she did was so obvious and tiny things now meant something more, it felt overwhelming. 

Yerim let out a sob as she surged forward into the blondes chest even though she had misdirected anger at her seconds ago. Chaewon froze before looking over at Hyejoo’s pained expression and glaring at her. They had gone over how stupid it would be for the taller girl to continue with the silent treatment as they walked to the cafeteria. She may have never had a relationship before but she watched enough dramas to know that was always a bad idea. She had to admit though, she was surprised by how quickly it backfired on Hyejoo. 

Chaewon sighed as she brought her arms up to pat at the younger girls back. She wasn’t used to comforting crying people and was self conscious that she looked like a robot. The added fact that her crush was rubbing her snot all over her shoulder only made her more nervous. But she was quietly happy to be able to be there for the younger girl. 

“Yerim, can we talk, please?” Hyejoo asked, staring at the shorter girls trembling head. After a tense minute Yerim peeled her face off the blonde’s coat and slowly nodded. Chaewon smiled and rubbed the younger girl's arm once more. Her heart skipped a beat, she was beautiful even when she was a crying mess.

“I’ll leave you guys to it,” Chaewon excused herself, already missing Yerim’s warmth. She hoped that she could experience that at least once more before graduation, but without the crying. With the help of Hyejoo she hastily picked up the snacks and quickly made her way to the club. She wanted to turn around but she forced herself to keep her eyes on the club room door. 

Hyejoo watched the blonde before turning to look at Yerim who was already staring at her. “I’m sorry,” Hyejoo started, reaching out to touch Yerim’s hand. She pulled away again, her stare was cold and it made her want to wince.

“Tell me why you were ignoring me,” Yerim demanded. 

Hyejoo bit her lip in thought, she couldn’t tell Yerim the whole truth. It was for her own good, she told herself as she reached out again. The shorter girl didn’t pull away this time. 

“I’ve had a lot of things on my mind, I just needed some time to think some stuff through,” Hyejoo said, being as vague as she could while rubbing her thumb across Yerim’s hand. Yerim frowned at that answer. It was too similar to the way the girl had blamed her mom’s cooking the other day, it was clearly fake. 

“Why can't you just tell me the truth? Do you not trust me or something?” Yerim asked, trying to pull her hand away again. She knew it was a low blow but she was desperate, she wanted to feel sane. 

“I do trust you Yerim! I’d trust you with my life. It's just not easy to explain right now, but I promise I will one day,” Hyejoo said, pulling the shorter girl closer. It was confusing to want to bring someone close and push them away all at the same time.

Yerim stared at Hyejoo’s thumb sadly, she needed to be patient with the taller girl. They weren't the same kids that chased butterflies around the playground anymore. She had to understand that at some point Hyejoo had become reserved around her. She shouldn't expect the taller girl to only count on her. It was selfish, she confided in her older club members and her parents when she wanted to. She shut her eyes tightly again, how could she keep messing up, she was making everything about herself. 

“If you can't talk to me about it right now, are you least talking to someone else?” Yerim asked, opening her eyes to see Hyejoo’s blurry stare. The look caused her heart to drop and she couldn't help not wanting to know the truth. She had never felt jealousy like the kind that came along with Hyejoo but it was worse to think she was suffering with something alone. 

Hyejoo looked down at their hands together before back at the club room that Chaewon had quickly slipped into. 

“I’ve been talking about it with someone, don't worry.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heejin rolled her eyes as she closed the door behind herself, that had been the worst experience of her life and Hyunjin wasn't even there. She looked over at Yerim as the younger girl slipped into her chair. She looked worse than before, Heejin sighed as she placed the filled out form on Yerim’s desk. 

“Did it go bad?” Heejin asked, her hands going for the lunch bag that had stayed on the girls desk. “I thought you'd be all smiles after talking it out.” They had walked back to their club room in complete silence. She was too distracted by her own anger at the three girls that quickly ganged up on her. 

Yerim watched Heejin go through her lunch, opening it to get a better look. “Do you think I’m inconsiderate?” She accidentally asked, it was all she could think about since Hyejoo had waved at her from her club room door. She was happy that the taller girl was talking to someone about her problems. But her heart still felt heavy, and she wondered what the other person had that she didn't. What made that person so special that they could be a part of Hyejoo’s life and share secrets.

Heejin scrunched up her face like it was the dumbest thing she had ever heard, “did she say that to you? Do you want me to go back there and talk to her?” As much as she would’ve preferred to zap her memory of the interaction away. She would gladly go make a fool of herself for Yerim.

Yerim chuckled and shook her head, she was pretty sure that Hyejoo would mop the floor with her. And that's if she was even able to get past Jiwoo who was a 3rd degree black belt in taekwondo. But, either way, it was the thought that counted and it was admirable that she thought she could possibly take them on for her sake, “no, she didn't say that but I just feel like, maybe I am?” 

Heejin put down Yerim’s lunch to look at her seriously, she always had a hard time multitasking. “You're the most annoyingly considerate person I know. What made you think otherwise?” 

Yerim felt nervous as she cleared her throat, “did you see Jiwoo and Jungeun when you pushed me in?”

Heejin puffed out her cheeks as she thought about it, “you mean that they were obviously kissing?”

Yerim choked on her saliva as she looked at the door just in case someone walked in. Her cheeks had gone red and she felt her body warm up again. 

“Why does kissing make you think you're inconsiderate?” Heejin asked in disbelief as she tilted her head to the side again. 

“I…” Yerim made a strangled sound in her mouth as the rest of her face turned red.

“Are you against that sort of thing?” Heejin’s voice was clear and sharp.

“NO! No! That's not…no it's just,” Yerim mumbled fidgeting in her seat.

“It’s just what?” Heejin questioned, staring down at Yerim. 

“I had never even thought that girls would want to kiss each other. It made me feel bad, I mean if I can't even realize something that simple on my own,” Yerim muttered, rubbing her face embarrassed. “And this whole thing with Hyejoo, she probably thinks I don't know stuff. Maybe that's why she doesn't want to talk to me about whatever is bothering her. I’m too stupid to get it.”

“You’re not stupid, some people just dont get exposed to relationships like that until a little later. Plus if you don't have a problem with it then that's what truly matters, there's a lot of people out there that don't accept it. Just because you had never thought about it doesn't mean you’re some inconsiderate monster. You know now, and you can do the research and better your knowledge on those things,” Heejin said, and she brought down Yerim’s hands to smile at her red face. “I can give you some different material if you want to read up on it.”

Yerim looked at Heejin’s soft smile and nervously smiled back. She really was great in her position in the club.

The bell rang signifying the end of the lunch period, they could hear the sound of students in the distance file out into the hallway. 

“I’d like that, thank you Heejin.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hey everybody! 

I’d like to first apologize for the long wait. June was rough for not only me but everyone I think. I got really backed up on writing, but fortunately I have a new scheduling plan setup. I hope to be uploading every weekend! Since I have two stories running at the same time, that’s obviously something to take into consideration. It’ll be an (A, B, A, B) type of deal. Anyways I don’t even know if this chapter makes sense hahaha But I wanted to explore a different pov we haven’t had the chance to look into. 

I truly read every comment you guys leave. I take everything seriously and into consideration. So please, if you enjoyed this update leave a Kudo or a comment! 

Any kind of feedback is appreciated! 

I hope everyone stays safe and healthy! See you in the next update!:)


	8. Only If

For the first time since the week started Yerim’s mind didn’t linger on how distant Hyejoo was as she walked home alone from the bus stop. Walk was the wrong word, she actually ran back to her apartment complex. It was something she hadn’t done since she was in middle school. When she had become obsessed with an unsolved mystery program that played just as she made it home. The obsession didn’t stop until one day her mother caught her too engrossed in a particularly gruesome murder case to notice her walk in. She had been chewed out and banned from continuing to view the show. Her mother was afraid it’d give her nightmares and rot her brain. Which was fine with Yerim, she would never go against her mother's rules. However, this time she wasn’t racing home to catch a show. If anyone asked, she would blame it on the sudden rain that had plagued the day and her lack of an umbrella. But what had truly caused her to pick up her speed until her legs burned, was what was hidden deep in her backpack. It added what felt like ten pounds to the various binders and notebooks already stuffed inside. Yerim briefly worried that the straps might tear right off her shoulders with her sharp movements. That thought caused her to push forward harder until she felt a pain in her side begin to blossom. It was silly but it made her feel like a soldier carrying a weighted rucksack. Her mission was top secret and she needed to make it to the privacy of her room quickly.

Reaching the safety of her building she let out a tired and warm huff into the cool air. She brought down her school coat that she held high above her head for a bit of protection from the rain. It was soaked and she lightly shook her head of the water that had managed to fall on her. She tried to wring her coat out, watching the way the water puddled on the dry cement below her. Sliding off her heavy backpack she examined it, noting the damp spots that she hadn’t been able to save. Feeling the bottom of her bag she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. The fabric felt dry and she could only hope that the books wrapped in clear plastic that Heejin let her borrow weren’t ruined.

Yerim went up the stairs two at a time, eager yet nervous to look through the content that awaited her. Her body instinctively stopped on Hyejoo’s floor. A habit she had never been able to drop and frankly didn’t want to. She enjoyed checking up on the girl when she knew she’d be home alone. She frowned, feeling the sadness creep into her heart once more. Since that day in the hallway, they hadn’t spoken to each other much. She told herself repeatedly that it was just that they were both busier with their own clubs. It was the only way to stop herself from worrying constantly. Her focus slowly shifted to a package left beside the taller girl's door. She took a step towards it before hesitating then stopping completely. If things were normal between them, she would’ve picked it up and taken it home for safekeeping. She would’ve texted her to stop by and get it before she became too curious and opened it up on her own. And when she finally stopped by they would’ve hung out for hours playing computer games instead, the package forgotten. If things weren’t suddenly weird between them, that’s what would’ve happened. Yerim turned on her heel, making her way back to the staircase. Hyejoo must’ve still been at school. Blonde hair flashed in her mind and she puffed her cheeks in discomfort at the jealousy she felt. 

Yerim opened the door to her home, it was quiet so her parents must’ve still been at work. She removed her soaked sneakers and peeled off her socks. She had to move quickly, making her way to the washing machine she threw her wet clothes in. Usually she would shower after being caught in the rain to make sure she didn’t get sick. But instead, she burst through her bedroom door locking it behind her and dropping her backpack onto the floor. She rummaged through her dresser for warm sweats and a clean shirt. Slipping them on she turned back to her backpack. It had slumped over and she could feel her heart beating harshly against her chest. She looked around her room out of paranoia and walked over to pick her bag up. She brought it over to her bed and sat it next to her, not minding the wet spots. Her fingers gingerly pulled the zipper open before she plunged her arm deep into the bag. Taking a second to find the plastic, she finally grasped it and pulled it out in one clean jerk. The books slid against each other and she licked her lips as her fingers untied the knot keeping it together. When she poured out the books onto the surface of her comforter, she couldn’t help the heat that pulled to her cheeks. Her eyes danced across the covers of the two history books and three autobiographies to fall on a rather thick manga. She blinked a couple of times confused as to why Heejin would add something like that to her readings. It’s not like she didn’t know what manga was, she often kept up with the most popular webtoons of the season. She just didn’t own any sort of hard copies and had no clue Heejin was into that. Yerim reached out to touch the cover, her finger tracing over the title. Cracking the book open she noticed a sticky note stuck to the first page. Heejin’s neat handwriting, a message just for her. She quickly opened the other books finding the same hot pink sticky note with longer explanations of her decision to lend her those particular books. Going back to the manga, Yerim read the short note again. 

“Love is great, isn’t it?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hyejoo stuck her hand out from under the shelter of the school building and watched the rain hit her pale skin. The cold droplets ran down her sleeve and she grimaced before quickly pulling her arm back. She never liked getting wet but Yerim was always so passionate about playing in the rain when they were younger. Hyejoo couldn’t even count how many times the shorter girl had showed up at her door in a colorful raincoat and mid-calf rain boots. They just had to go stomp around in the puddles by the playground. She sighed and pulled her phone out of her pocket. There were no new messages and she tapped on her conversation with Yerim. The last text was sent the day before. Her thumb twitched over the keyboard as she thought of something to say. 

“What are you doing?” Jungeun asked in a deep whisper, sneaking up behind Hyejoo and poking her right in the middle of her back with a slender finger. She jumped and whirled around to glare down at the older girl who broke out into laughter. Jungeun wasn’t used to seeing their moodiest member show more than two emotions. Hyejoo could often be found with a scowl or blank expression in the club room. She only seemed to relax around Yeojin who was too boisterous to ignore. “Are you waiting for someone?” Jungeun got out between her chuckles. She brought her black umbrella close to her chest as her shoulders trembled, the day had been exhausting and she was slightly delirious from it all. 

Hyejoo rolled her eyes before pocketing her phone and nodding. “I’m waiting for Chaewon.” 

At that Jungeun perked up, “oh really? She should be coming down soon. She was just finishing something up with Jiwoo.” Hyejoo nodded again and looked back out to the rain. She figured that was the end of their conversation. The older girl was usually quick to rush home unless she had plans with the other club members. “What are you guys going to do?” Jungeun asked, walking closer to Hyejoo so they could be side by side. 

Hyejoo glanced at her from the corner of her eye, noticing the small smile on her lips. It made her raise an eyebrow suspiciously. “I don’t know actually. She wouldn't tell me.” 

Jungeun smiled from ear to ear now, intrigued that the blonde would go out of her way to initiate a hangout. It was almost like pulling teeth to get Chaewon to go out with them and they had known the girl for quite some time. “It looks like you two sure have gotten closer lately.” 

Hyejoo turned her head to look at Jungeun’s profile, skeptical of where their talk was going. “Yeah I guess so,” they had accidentally entangled themselves in something too messy to easily escape from. Secrets had been spilled and there was no way for either of them to unhear what was said. Their only choice at this point was to work together whether they liked it or not. 

Jungeun reached out to let the rain fall against her skin, “it’s usually frowned upon since there’s hierarchies and all that. But, if something happens between you two...I’m willing to look the other way. Just don’t bring any drama to the club,” Jungeun flipped her hand up to the sky to let water pool in her palm. 

Hyejoo’s mouth dropped open as she blinked rapidly and shook her head. “It’s not…”

“You don’t need to explain anything to me. In fact it’s probably better if you don’t tell me anything about it,” Jungeun chuckled again, dropping the water and bringing her hand back in to wipe it against her coat. It was mostly a joke, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t find their abrupt friendliness odd. She wanted to know what was happening between them but felt too reserved to ask. Her best hope would be that one of them would let it slip to Jiwoo or Hyunjin and it would get back to her. 

“You absolutely have the wrong idea about...us. I promise it’s nothing like that,” Hyejoo blushed, suddenly feeling extremely self conscious. She foolishly hadn’t thought anyone was watching them. But now looking back, the way Hyunjin had tilted her head to the side curiously at them when she caught them whispering to each other made sense. Jungeun lifted her hands up by her head and smiled. She wasn’t a huge fan of teasing people until they were red in the face. That was something she left up to Jiwoo and in particular Hyunjin who enjoyed pushing buttons. She just wanted to make sure that her club and the members stayed in harmony. 

“Alright, if you say so. But you should be careful okay? I know she doesn’t tend to act like it. But Chaewon is actually pretty popular in our year. I mean, she’s nowhere near as popular as your friend, but it’s still impressive in my opinion,” Jungeun held her umbrella in both hands, her finger swiping at the strap connected by the velcro. “I don’t think she notices all the attention since she’s always so wrapped up in her own little thoughts. But I’ve seen her do some real damage with just a stare, it was actually kinda amazing,” Jungeun suddenly turned, a grin on her lips and she pointed her umbrella at Hyejoo’s right shoulder, tapping it lightly. The taller girl looked down to the tip hesitantly before looking back at Jungeun. “I bet you didn't know she had a nickname, right? You're new to the school after all, so why would you? But she picked it up really fast in her first week here. They call her princess Chaewon,” she cringed before lifting her umbrella to tap the other side with a little bit more force then intended. “A princess,” Jungeun repeated and giggled in disbelief to herself, ignoring the younger girl's tiny wince. “Someone that beautiful is a deadly temptation. I’d think that only the bravest knights could come out of it alive. How do you think you’ll fare?” Jungeun whispered with a mischievous smile, dropping her umbrella back down to her side. She watched Hyejoo’s face morph into utter confusion and she had to hold back a laugh. 

“I'm not really sure I get what you’re trying to say,” Hyejoo responded after a tense minute, annoyed. 

Jungeun dramatically sighed and shrugged. She really needed to lay off the fantasy crap she watched with her dad on the weekends. She usually didn’t show that dorky side of herself, the only person that knew about it was Jiwoo, who made fun of her sometimes. And she’d never be able to live it down if the other girls found out about it. So she decided to put it in simpler terms for Hyejoo. “Don’t catch feelings.” 

Just as Hyejoo opened her mouth to tell Jungeun off, because that was the farthest thing from possible, they were interrupted. Jiwoo’s loud voice boomed through the empty corridor drawing their focus to her. Jungeun smiled affectionately and took the necessary steps to meet Jiwoo in the middle leaving the younger girl behind. Hyejoo gnawed on her lip as she watched Jiwoo slip away from the hold she had on Chaewon to throw her arms around Jungeun. It was almost disgustingly sweet how they acted, as if they hadn’t seen each other earlier in the day. Chaewon rolled her eyes and kept walking until she was face to face with Hyejoo. 

“I swear they should just get a room,” Chaewon sighed, looking over her shoulder to smile at the way Jiwoo bounced around Jungeun. She was rambling about the meeting with the faculty advisor they had just gotten out of. When the blonde didn’t receive a response she turned back to the younger girl curiously. She could see the worry in her eyes and she brought her hand up to poke her arm. “What’s wrong?” 

Hyejoo looked down at her before sighing and shaking her head. She felt conscious of how close they were and tried to take a step back to make some room. Chaewon noticed it and looked at her oddly, trying to read her face. 

“Do you two want to eat with us?” Jiwoo chirped, slinging her free arm around Chaewon’s shoulders. Her other hand was busy pulling along a pouting Jungeun. Anyone with eyes could see that idea clearly didn’t sit well with their editor-in-chief.

Chaewon laughed, deciding to save Jungeun the embarrassment, “thanks for the offer but we already have plans.” Jiwoo’s brows shot up as she looked over at Hyejoo. The taller girl narrowed her eyes and looked away from Jiwoo’s scrutiny. 

“Wow that’s unexpected,” Jiwoo smiled brightly, it was almost like the sun had suddenly appeared in the gloomy weather. “What are you guys going to be doing?” The blonde had failed to mention her plans earlier while they waited for their faculty advisor. 

Chaewon smirked and eyed Hyejoo, “it’s a surprise. I can’t tell you,” she threw a playful wink at Jiwoo. It made her gasp and she shook the tiny blonde around by the shoulder, pretending to be upset. 

“Fine, but next time you better invite us too!” Jiwoo cutely pouted. She wanted to get closer to their new members too. 

Chaewon nodded and watched as the two girls were quick to part ways with them. Jiwoo had complained about how she was starving, causing Jungeun to roll her eyes. She had waved at them before disappearing around the corner of the hill with an excited Jiwoo in tow. Hyejoo had stayed silent the entire time. The rain hadn’t stopped or lessened for even a minute. 

“Did you bring extra clothes like I told you to?” Chaewon’s voice was light and feathery but still managed to sound abrasive to Hyejoo’s ears. It felt like they were the last students at school and Hyejoo nodded. She had no idea what they were doing but had obeyed the older girl without putting up too much of a fight. She was quickly realizing it was much easier to just go along with the blonde. “Great, we can change in the restrooms at the subway. It’ll be bad if a teacher sees us on campus without a uniform.” 

Hyejoo nodded again and opened her umbrella up in one smooth motion. Before she could make her way out into the rain, a small hand wrapped around her elbow stopping her. “Share with me,” Chaewon was smiling, it was more of a demand than a question. She definitely knew how to use her looks to her advantage. Hyejoo’s brow twitched as she scanned the blonde for an umbrella. The older girl had grown fond of teasing her. “I left mine in the club room, come on, don’t be mean.”

“Fine,” Hyejoo reluctantly switched the handle over to her left hand. She knew there was nothing like that between them and that she was just allowing Jungeun to get into her head. But she still felt extra aware of the shorter girls mannerisms around her. 

Chaewon squeezed in close, pressing herself against the taller girl's arm even though it wasn’t necessary. The umbrella was big enough for the both of them, it was one Yerim had left at her apartment a while back. She just never got around to returning it to the shorter girl. By the time Yerim had remembered where she last placed it, she had already purchased a new one. Hyejoo gripped the handle tighter before sighing. She looked down at the blonde only to meet her stare, Chaewon’s eyes seemed to be twinkling wickedly. It put Hyejoo on edge but she hid it behind a blank expression. 

“This better not be lame.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hyejoo stuffed her uniform into her bag before opening the stall door. Chaewon was standing by the sink examining her reflection in the mirror. She had changed into a white pullover and dark blue jeans. She pushed some blonde hair behind her ear before noticing Hyejoo’s stare. Twirling around she smiled and took in the taller girls outfit. Hyejoo had grabbed the first hoodie she found in her closet and black jeans. It was simple yet comfortable.

“That’s perfect,” Chaewon turned back to the mirror to give herself one last glance. She added a light layer of lip gloss across her plump lips. 

“When are you going to tell me why we’re in Hongdae?” Hyejoo walked over to the blonde, avoiding an older woman rushing towards one of the stalls. Smacking her lips Chaewon offered the lip gloss to the taller girl silently. Hyejoo was quick to shake her head as she crossed her arms against her chest. It was beginning to get annoying how the older girl refused to answer her questions. 

“Just trust me,” Chaewon sighed, slipping her lip gloss back into her pocket. The sound of a toilet flushing filled the air between them. She turned on her heel to make her way out of the restroom but was stopped. Hyejoo was holding her wrist to keep her in place, a frown etched deep on her face. 

“I’m serious,” Hyejoo huffed, her hand awkwardly slipped away a second later. It was hard to not forget that the blonde was older than her and she should act appropriately. 

“I wanted to take you somewhere that might help you…” Chaewon lowered her voice as a woman walked over to the sink closest to them. “With what we agreed on. About you getting over...Yerim,” she was practically whispering at the taller girl. Chaewon’s hand reached out to tug Hyejoo closer by the sleeve. “I’m hoping this can be a good first step.” 

Hyejoo wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She assumed Chaewon just wanted company in whatever she was doing. That all that talk about a surprise was just the blonde’s way of teasing her. And that maybe she was into taking photos of herself and didn’t want to be caught in her school uniform. Biting her lip for a second she finally decided on a stiff, “thanks,” to which Chaewon slightly shrugged at. 

They walked under Hyejoo’s umbrella for a couple of blocks. Chaewon was still pressed up against her but this time she was leading the taller girl. Their steps were in sync and the rain had mostly cleared the usually crowded streets. When the blonde suddenly stopped, Hyejoo looked up to see a red neon sign, she knitted her brows together.

“This is a joke right?” Hyejoo breathed out, shooting a glare at Chaewon who was shining with the red glow of the sign. The blonde laughed at her reaction and pulled a stumbling Hyejoo towards the door. Once inside the building a man behind the front counter looked up. His bored expression turned into a scowl once he saw who had entered. 

“You should not be here,” the man grunted, jumping from his seat. Chaewon rolled her eyes and walked up to the counter leaving Hyejoo behind. She flipped through the booklet of different promotions before meeting the man's stare. 

“You owe me or did you forget that I saw you sneaking your girlfriend out of the house?” She batted her lashes and flicked her hair behind her shoulder like a brat. The man hesitated but then shot a glare over at Hyejoo who was still frozen by the door. 

“Chae, I could get fired,” he hushed out, now looking worried. The blonde shrugged and moved around some flyers innocently. She wasn’t going to take no for an answer, that would have looked really lame in front of the younger girl. 

“I could have your mom on the line in seconds. It’s up to you to decide,” Chaewon smiled, pulling her phone out of her pocket and unlocking it. The man grimaced before looking around the small lobby for any sign of his coworkers. The majority of them were out back on a cigarette break and their boss wasn't in for the day. 

“I can’t believe you’re blackmailing your own cousin,” he sighed, viciously scratching the back of his head in defeat. He looked over at Hyejoo again noting how young she looked, “how old are you anyways kid?” 

Hyejoo startled and as she was about to open her mouth, Chaewon interrupted. “Don’t worry about her, loser. Just get us set up.” Chaewon’s cousin glared at her before muttering something under his breath. He quickly pulled a key from the wall behind him. The vintage hotel tag had a skull and the number twelve on it. He looked around the lobby once more before sticking his palm out to her. Chaewon stared at it before huffing and fishing through her wallet for cash. Pressing some keys on the register he shoved the cash in and then loudly shut it closed. 

“This is really illegal so I need you guys to swear you won’t get hurt. Your mom would literally kill me if she found out about this. Then my mom would bring me back to life just to kill me again herself. So, don’t be stupid in there,” he said leading them to a dimly lit hallway. Hyejoo looked at the doors they passed, each with the same skull from the key tag. She could faintly hear the sound of something breaking. Stopping at the number twelve door, he walked over to a cart with black protective suits and yellow helmets. He handed each girl one and then gave them heavy duty gloves. In return Chaewon handed him their bags to keep safe. Hyejoo’s eyes were wide as she zipped up her suit and tugged on the gloves. Chaewon’s cousin then ushered them through the door, the room’s walls were covered in graffitied plywood. He looked down at their shoes and nodded, “when you guys start there’s going to be glass all over the ground so be careful. Again...please don’t hurt yourself.” He directed that at Chaewon with a frown. Hyejoo looked at the early 2000’s chunky tv and the various glass cups and plates around the room. There was even an old printer in one of the corners. “Here,” Chaewon’s cousin said, pushing two scruffed up metal bats at them. 

Hyejoo took a hold of the bat and looked back to the man bewildered. 

“Don’t die. I’ll be back when your session is over,” he said, taking one last glance at them. He sighed and shook his head as he left the room. 

“Surprise!” Chaewon weakly said, bringing Hyejoo’s attention back to her. 

“Why are we here?” Hyejoo looked around the room again. The shield on her helmet lightly fogged up with her heavy breathing. 

Chaewon gripped the bat tighter as she too looked around the room, now unsure of her decision. “I know you’re angry at yourself for falling in love with her and I wanted to give you a...safe outlet to release that. I figured what better way than to come to a Rage Room and break some stuff.” The blonde licked her lips as she focused back on the taller girl who still seemed shocked. “These places normally have age limits and well I knew I could get us in with the help of my cousin. So...what do you think? Was this a bad idea?” 

Hyejoo looked down at the bat in her hand before she scoffed and then started to laugh. It was low and rumbling at first until it hit a screech and she had to push up the face shield to wipe at her eyes. Chaewon’s eyebrows knitted together in worry and she took a step forward to reach out for the taller girl.

“Thank you Chaewon,” Hyejoo said through her laughter. She was angry, she was so angry and she had no clue when it started. But she had become bitter, whenever she saw couples at school or just walking down the street. She hated it, she hated feeling different, hated feeling wrong. She hated coming home to an empty house every day. She hated the strained relationship she had with her mother. She hated that her father never reached out to her. She hated that he didn’t fight for her when he could’ve. She hated that he had moved on and seemed to be happy with his new life. She hated that she felt easily forgettable to everyone she had ever come across. But most of all, she hated that Yerim couldn’t love her back the way she wanted. The way she so desperately wished for in the middle of the night when she should be sleeping. “Thank you,” Hyejoo choked out as her shoulders shook for a different reason. She lowered her face shield and turned away from Chaewon’s view. Sniffling a bit, she walked over to the tv and gripped the bat with both hands. 

Chaewon tensed up and Hyejoo squared her shoulders and bent her knees a little. She could still hear the taller girl sniffling as she brought the bat high up to her shoulders. Peeking through one eye she watched as Hyejoo swung the bat down right into the screen of the tv with all her might. The sound of metal breaking glass was terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time. Chaewon couldn’t help the way her tiny body jumped in surprise as Hyejoo let out a feverish grunt. She brought the bat back up only to swing it down again and again, sending pieces of electronic junk flying everywhere. When she was done she dropped the bat to the floor with a metal clang. She was breathing hard and her arms were burning from the swinging. 

“Here,” Chaewon held a cup out to Hyejoo when she turned around to catch her stare. Hyejoo looked at the cup before gulping down a knot in her throat and blinking her eyes rapidly to try to get rid of the sting. She walked over to the blonde and snatched the cup from her hand only to pitch it straight at the furthest plywood wall. Chaewon let out a squeak at the sudden toss and turned her head in case any glass flew right at them. She heard the sound of small shards bouncing off her helmet. Turning back to face the wall that didn’t look damaged at all she glanced over at Hyejoo’s heaving shoulders. 

Chaewon slowly reached down for a plate and then pushed it towards Hyejoo’s arm. The taller girl whipped her head down to see the plate before her eyes trailed up Chaewon’s short arm and she was looking straight into the older girl's eyes. They were soft and caring, it broke Hyejoo’s heart even more. She plucked it from Chaewon’s small hand and aimed for a graffitied goal post on the wall. The pieces went everywhere and soon the blonde was acting as her reloader, handing her cup after plate until there was no more. Hyejoo was sweating by the last throw and she turned to look at the older girl for something more. Chaewon was holding her bat out for her to take, which she did silently. 

“Come on,” Chaewon said, taking Hyejoo over to the corner with the printer. It was the only thing in the room that wasn’t broken in one way or another. “It’s almost over,” she positioned herself behind Hyejoo and grabbed her hand to bring it to the bat. “You don’t have to be angry about this on your own anymore.” Once Hyejoo was holding the bat securely in her hands Chaewon pulled away and put some space between them for safety. 

Hyejoo breathed out unsteadily and brought the bat above her head for one last swing. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chaewon’s cousin opened the door to find both girls silently standing in the middle of the destroyed room. He breathed a sigh of relief to see that they weren’t harmed, it looked like he would be able to keep his job after all. They automatically walked towards him, glass crunched underneath their shoes. They handed him the bats before removing their helmets and suits. He placed everything back on the cart and handed them their bags. He watched as Chaewon picked a small piece of glass out of her friend's hair. It was uncharacteristically sweet for the selfishly spoiled kid he grew up around. And an automatic red flag in his mind When the blonde noticed him staring she scowled at him and turned her friend away protectively. He scoffed and glared right back at her.

“You better not come here again until you’re actually old enough,” he grumbled as he followed behind them out of the hallway. Chaewon rolled her eyes leading Hyejoo to the exit, her arm hadn’t slipped away from the hold around the taller girl's waist. 

“You’re lucky I haven’t just told Auntie about your girlfriend,” Chaewon threw over her shoulder at him as Hyejoo pulled her umbrella out of the bucket by the door. Hyejoo turned around to look at him and nodded her head in his direction before opening the door and excusing herself. She needed some air and she figured Chaewon might want to privately say goodbye to her cousin.

Chaewon watched Hyejoo wait outside under her umbrella before she turned back to her cousin who was also looking at the younger girl. “Since when do you have friends?” He asked, his eyes slowly focusing on the blonde. It was known in their family that Chaewon could be quite cold to others since she was so shy. 

“I’ll see you around,” Chaewon forcefully smiled, ignoring his question and giving him a wave. She was glad to know that there was no way this would get back to her mother. Her cousin wouldn’t risk being told on. 

He pursed his lips at the way Chaewon wrapped herself around the taller girl's arm. Shaking his head he looked back down to his phone, pleased that the blonde was finally gone. 

Chaewon and Hyejoo walked arm in arm through the rain. The blonde had initially thought about eating after the Rage Room. But it seemed like Hyejoo was in no mood for that. She hadn’t said a word since before she started breaking things. Walking down the staircase to the subway entrance Hyejoo closed her umbrella and pulled away from Chaewon’s grip. They had stopped and moved to the side out of the way of other travelers. 

“I’m going to take the bus,” Hyejoo said just loud enough for the blonde to hear. She didn’t feel like being cooped up underground. She wanted to watch the rainy streets zoom by. 

“Oh, okay,” Chaewon nodded with a small pout as she pulled out her wallet. The subway was close and she didn’t want to miss it. 

Hyejoo bit her lip before she sighed and pulled the blonde into her arms. Chaewon squeaked as Hyejoo’s soft hoodie rubbed against her face. She was squeezed hard and she felt the taller girl rest her cheek against her head. 

“It meant a lot to me,” Hyejoo breathed out onto Chaewon’s hair. The blonde hesitantly returned the hug after a couple of seconds. She really was just an awkward person and needed to get better at physical affection. “Thank you Chaewon.” There was no way Hyejoo could properly explain to the older girl just what she had done for her. Her heart felt lighter than it had ever felt before even if her body was aching. 

Chaewon gave Hyejoo a squeeze of her own before the taller girl stepped back. Chaewon blinked in surprise as Hyejoo was smiling shyly at her. It was cute and the blonde would be lying if she said she didn’t want to see it more often. It made her feel even more determined to help the taller girl with her problem. 

“Let me know when you get home, okay?” Chaewon returned her smile and happily waved, twirling around to catch the subway. Only when Hyejoo couldn’t see blonde hair anymore, did she make her way back up the stairs and to the nearest bus stop. 

Hyejoo laughed to herself as she sat waiting for the bus alone. After all of that, the thing she wanted the most right now...was just to see Yerim. She sighed and rested her head back on the map of the city. 

“I wonder what she’s doing.” 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hey everybody! 

I rewrote this chapter like three times, I’m not sure if I even like it or not. I actually wasn’t feeling too good last week which is why I didn’t update. But hopefully you guys are able to enjoy this.

As always! I appreciate any feedback, so if you liked this update consider leaving a comment or a kudos:)

Stay safe and healthy everyone! I’ll see y’all in the next update


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